[Mononuclear cell subsets in the peripheral blood of patients with myasthenia gravis]

Abstract

With the use of the Wuhan series of monoclonal anti-lymphocyte antibodies, the peripheral blood mononuclear cell subpopulations in 104 patients with myasthenia gravis were studied. Before treatment, the mean T4/T8 ratio was higher and the percentage of WuT8+ cells (suppressor T cells) was lower in patients than in the controls. Furthermore, they also showed a higher number of B cells and abnormal lymphocytes (including immature thymocytes and Tac cells) in the blood. In this series 50 cases after oral prednisone treatment and 10 cases following thymectomy revealed normal ranges of mean T4/T8 ratio and WuT8+ cells. Besides, the number of B cells and immature thymocytes in them reduced significantly.