Primary antiphospholipid syndrome emerging following thymectomy for myasthenia gravis: additional evidence for the kaleidoscope of autoimmunity

Abstract

The etiology of autoimmune diseases is multifactorial. In many of them the stimulation by a specific autoantigen is claimed to be responsible for the initiation of the disease. Alternatively, an autoimmune state may be induced by a pure dysregulation of the immune system. Such is the case in which severe systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is induced in young patients with myasthenia gravis following thymectomy. We have referred to this set of events as the 'kaleidoscope of autoimmunity'. Herewith, we would like to present another example of the kaleidoscope phenomenon, namely: the emergence of a full blown clinical presentation of the primary antiphospholipid syndrome (APS-recurrent thromboembolic phenomena, repeated fetal loss with high titers of anti-cardiolipid antibodies) in a 32 y old female with myasthenia gravis, two years following thymectomy. Thymectomy in myasthenic patients may be associated with the emergence of new autoimmune conditions such as SLE and APS, pointing to the importance of immune dysregulation in the induction of these autoimmune diseases.