April 2, 2016
Study examines impact of 2 new antibodies in causing, treating myasthenia gravis
By Toni Baker, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University
A study of patients from across the nation with myasthenia gravis is helping determine the incidence of two new antibodies believed to cause the disease, and whether these patients need different treatment strategies.
Researchers are examining the blood of patients from 22 centers specializing in the treatment of mysathenia gravis, the most common communication problem between brain and muscle, to determine what percentage of patients have one or both of the new antibodies and to characterize their clinical symptoms, said Dr. Lin Mei, chairman of the Department of Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.
About 10 percent of patients have no evidence of two other antibodies already known to cause the disease, although they have classic clinical symptoms such as drooping eyelids, generalized muscle weakness and problems breathing, and electrical studies of their brain-muscle communication indicate a problem.
These so-called double-negative patients are the target for the new study, which is testing their blood for antibodies to two proteins, agrin and LRP4, that Mei's lab has shown are also critical to healthy brain-muscle communication.
Antibodies to agrin and LRP4 have already been found in some patients, and LPR4 antibodies cause myasthenia gravis-like symptoms when injected into lab animals.
"We want to know whether these patients have any unique symptoms so we can diagnose them early then confirm their diagnosis with a blood test," said Mei, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Neuroscience and principal investigator on the new $3 million National Instiutes of Health grant. He notes that several companies already are interested in developing agrin and LRP4 antibody tests.
