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Review
. 2021 Mar;42(3):863-869.
doi: 10.1007/s10072-021-05042-3. Epub 2021 Jan 12.

AChRAb and MuSKAb double-seropositive myasthenia gravis: a distinct subtype?

Jieni Zhang #  1 , Yin Chen #  1 , Jiaxin Chen  1 , Xin Huang  1 , Haiyan Wang  1 , Yan Li  1 , Weibin Liu  2 , Huiyu Feng  3
Affiliations
Review

AChRAb and MuSKAb double-seropositive myasthenia gravis: a distinct subtype?

Jieni Zhang et al. Neurol Sci. 2021 Mar.

Abstract

Introduction: This study investigated the characteristics of double-seropositive myasthenia gravis (DSP-MG) in southern China for disease subtype classification.

Methods: A case-control study was carried out in which the characteristics of DSP-MG patients (n = 17) were compared to those of muscle-specific tyrosine kinase antibody-positive (MuSK)-MG and acetylcholine receptor antibody-positive (AChR)-MG patients (n = 8 and 27, respectively). We also performed a literature review of DSP-MG patients.

Results: Compared to AChR-MG, DSP-MG had greater bulbar dysfunction (47.1% vs 18.6%, P = 0.04), higher incidence of myasthenia crisis (41.2% vs 14.8%, P = 0.04), more severe Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America classification at maximum worsening, greater autoantibody abnormalities (70.6% vs 33.3%, P = 0.015), greater need for immunosuppressant treatment (58.8% vs 3.7%, P < 0.001), and worse prognosis with less remission (11.8% vs 55.6%, P = 0.001). There were no differences between DSP-MG and MuSK-MG patients. DSP-MG described in published reports was comparable to MuSK-MG.

Discussion: DSP-MG in southern China may be a subtype of MuSK-MG.

Keywords: Acetylcholine receptor; Antibody; Double-seropositive myasthenia gravis; Muscle-specific tyrosine kinase; Myasthenia gravis; Subtype.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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