Thymoma-specific antibodies in sera from patients with myasthenia gravis demonstrated by indirect haemagglutination

Abstract

An indirect haemagglutination technique for the demonstration of antibodies to skeletal muscle is described. Eight out of 9 sera from unoperated myasthenia gravis (MG) patients with thymoma and 6 out of 22 sera taken from MG patients who had been operated upon for a thymoma, contained antibodies to this antigen. Twenty-five sera from MG patients with histologically verified thymus hyperplasia did not contain such antibodies. There was no relationship between these antibodies and antibodies to acetylcholine receptor.