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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.

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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.

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