Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42786377›Full record

ArticleNeurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology2026

Longitudinal dynamics and clinical significance of acetylcholine receptor blocking antibodies in myasthenia gravis.

Aigli G Vakrakou, Maria Belimezi, Eleni Strataki, Eleftherios Kontizas, Dimitra Tzavella, Dimitrios Panaretos, Emmanouil Angelakis, Vasiliki Zouvelou

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Article in Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Aigli G VakrakouNeurology Department, Eginition Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, ERN EURO-MND, 74 Vas. Sophias Ave, Athens, 11528, Greece.
Maria BelimeziDiagnostic Department, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, Greece.
Eleni StratakiNeurology Department, Eginition Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, ERN EURO-MND, 74 Vas. Sophias Ave, Athens, 11528, Greece.
Eleftherios KontizasDiagnostic Department, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, Greece.
Dimitra TzavellaNeurology Department, Eginition Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, ERN EURO-MND, 74 Vas. Sophias Ave, Athens, 11528, Greece.
Dimitrios PanaretosDepartment of Statistics, School of Economic Sciences, University of Western Macedonia, Grevena, Greece.
Emmanouil AngelakisDiagnostic Department, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, Greece.
Vasiliki ZouvelouNeurology Department, Eginition Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, ERN EURO-MND, 74 Vas. Sophias Ave, Athens, 11528, Greece. vzouvelu@med.uoa.gr.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4652-3582

Funding

UCB The research activity program entitled 'Study of blocking AChR Abs and correlation with clinical characteristics in patients with myasthenia gravis' received partial in-kind support from UCB, specifically in the form of reagents used during the study
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo investigate the longitudinal clinical relevance of acetylcholine receptor (AChR) blocking antibodies in myasthenia gravis (MG).

methodsWe prospectively studied 47 AChR-positive MG patients with 121 serial antibody measurements over a mean follow-up of 2.8 years. AChR-binding antibodies were measured by a conventional radioimmunoprecipitation assay, whereas AChR-blocking activity was measured using a competitive radioimmunoassay. Disease severity was assessed using Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America (MGFA) classification. Longitudinal associations were analyzed using generalized estimating equations (GEE).

resultsBlocking antibodies (> 20% inhibition) were associated with MGFA severity across repeated observations in longitudinal GEE analysis (β = 0.045, p < 0.001), whereas binding antibodies were not significant. Among 13 patients with ocular-onset MG, all 8 who progressed to generalized disease were blocking antibody-positive, while none of the 5 patients who remained ocular tested positive. Blocking antibodies were detected in 90.5% of generalized MG patients, whereas all persistently ocular patients were negative.

conclusionsAChR blocking antibodies are associated with MG disease severity over time and may help identify ocular MG patients at risk of generalization, supporting their potential clinical relevance in MG.

Indexed as

Antibodies, BlockingAutoantibodiesMyasthenia GravisReceptors, CholinergicAdultAgedDisease ProgressionFemaleFollow-Up StudiesHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleMiddle AgedProspective StudiesRadioimmunoassaySeverity of Illness IndexAntibodies, BlockingAutoantibodiesReceptors, CholinergicBinding antibodiesBlocking antibodiesGeneralized myasthenia gravisMyasthenia gravisOcular myasthenia gravis

Identifiers

PMID42786377
PMCPMC13612679

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.