Anti-voltage-gated potassium channel Kv1.4 antibodies in myasthenia gravis.
Summary of "Anti-voltage-gated potassium channel Kv1.4 antibodies in myasthenia gravis."
Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease characterized by skeletal muscle weakness mainly caused by acetylcholine receptor antibodies. MG can be divided into generalized and ocular, and into early-onset (<50 years of age) and late-onset (≥50 years of age). Anti-Kv1.4 antibodies targeting α-subunits (Kv1.4) of the voltage-gated potassium K(+) channel occurs frequently among patients with severe MG, accounting for 18% of a Japanese MG population. The aim of this study was to characterize the clinical features and serological associations of anti-Kv1.4 antibodies in a Caucasian MG population with mild and localized MG. Serum samples from 129 Caucasian MG patients with mainly ocular symptoms were tested for the presence of anti-Kv1.4 antibodies and compared to clinical and serological parameters. There were 22 (17%) anti-Kv1.4 antibody-positive patients, most of them women with late-onset MG, and all of them with mild MG. This contrasts to the Japanese anti-Kv1.4 antibody-positive patients who suffered from severe MG with bulbar symptoms, myasthenic crisis, thymoma, myocarditis and prolonged QT time on electrocardiography, despite equal anti-Kv1.4 antibody occurrence in both populations. No other clinical or serological parameters influenced anti-Kv1.4 antibody occurrence.
Affiliation
Department of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital, 5021, Bergen, Norway, fredrik.romi@haukeland.no.
Journal Details
This article was published in the following journal.
Name: Journal of neurology
ISSN: 1432-1459
Pages:
Links
- PubMed Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22167224
- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00415-011-6344-y
Medical and Biotech [MESH] Definitions
Myasthenia Gravis, Autoimmune, Experimental
Any autoimmune animal disease model used in the study of MYASTHENIA GRAVIS. Injection with purified neuromuscular junction acetylcholine receptor (AChR) (see RECEPTORS, CHOLINERGIC) components results in a myasthenic syndrome that has acute and chronic phases. The motor endplate pathology, loss of acetylcholine receptors, presence of circulating anti-AChR antibodies, and electrophysiologic changes make this condition virtually identical to human myasthenia gravis. Passive transfer of AChR antibodies or lymphocytes from afflicted animals to normals induces passive transfer experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis. (From Joynt, Clinical Neurology, 1997, Ch 54, p3)
Kcnq3 Potassium Channel
A very slow opening and closing voltage-gated potassium channel that is expressed in NEURONS and is closely related to KCNQ2 POTASSIUM CHANNEL. It is commonly mutated in BENIGN FAMILIAL NEONATAL CONVULSIONS.
Kv1.3 Potassium Channel
A delayed rectifier subtype of shaker potassium channels that is the predominant VOLTAGE-GATED POTASSIUM CHANNEL of T-LYMPHOCYTES.
Kcnq1 Potassium Channel
A voltage-gated potassium channel that is expressed primarily in the HEART.
Kcnq2 Potassium Channel
A very slow opening and closing voltage-gated potassium channel that is expressed in NEURONS and is commonly mutated in BENIGN FAMILIAL NEONATAL CONVULSIONS.
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