Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Oct 31:7:F1000 Faculty Rev-1727.
doi: 10.12688/f1000research.15973.1. eCollection 2018.

Recent advances in understanding and managing myasthenia gravis

Allison Jordan  1 , Miriam Freimer  1
Affiliations
Review

Recent advances in understanding and managing myasthenia gravis

Allison Jordan et al. F1000Res. .

Abstract

Autoimmune myasthenia gravis (MG) is a neuromuscular junction disorder marked clinically by fatigable muscle weakness and serologically by the presence of autoantibodies against acetylcholine receptors (AChRs), muscle-specific kinase (MuSK), or lipoprotein-related protein 4 (LPR4). Over the past few decades, the mortality of patients with MG has seen a dramatic decline secondary to evolving interventions in critical care and medical management. In the past 2 to 3 years, there have been several changes in standard of care for the treatment of MG. These changes include confirmation of the benefit of thymectomy versus medical management alone in AChR patients and a new US Food and Drug Administration-approved medication for refractory MG. There are also several exciting new prospective drugs in the pipeline, which are in different stages of clinical trial testing.

Keywords: Eculizumab; Rituximab; autoantibodies; myasthenia gravis; neuromuscular junction disorders.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: Miriam L. Freimer sits on the advisory board for Alexion Pharmaceuticals and has previously received research funding from Ra Pharmaceuticals, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, UCB, and Argenx. Competing interests: Nicholas J. Silvestri has previously consulted for Alexion Pharmaceuticals. No competing interests were disclosed.No competing interests were disclosed.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Gilhus NE, Verschuuren JJ: Myasthenia gravis: subgroup classification and therapeutic strategies. Lancet Neurol. 2015;14(10):1023–36. 10.1016/S1474-4422(15)00145-3 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wang J, Xiao Y, Zhang K, et al. : Introducing Autoimmunity at the Synapse by a Novel Animal Model of Experimental Autoimmune Myasthenia Gravis. Neuroscience. 2018;374:264–70. 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2018.01.042 - DOI - PubMed

    2. F1000 Recommendation

    1. Verschuuren JJ, Huijbers MG, Plomp JJ, et al. : Pathophysiology of myasthenia gravis with antibodies to the acetylcholine receptor, muscle-specific kinase and low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 4. Autoimmun Rev. 2013;12(9):918–23. 10.1016/j.autrev.2013.03.001 - DOI - PubMed

    2. F1000 Recommendation

    1. Drachman DB, Angus CW, Adams RN, et al. : Effect of myasthenic patients' immunoglobulin on acetylcholine receptor turnover: selectivity of degradation process. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1978;75(7):3422–6. 10.1073/pnas.75.7.3422 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chamberlain-Banoub J, Neal JW, Mizuno M, et al. : Complement membrane attack is required for endplate damage and clinical disease in passive experimental myasthenia gravis in Lewis rats. Clin Exp Immunol. 2006;146(2):278–86. 10.1111/j.1365-2249.2006.03198.x - DOI - PMC - PubMed