ArticleThe Journal of clinical investigation1994
Regulation of acetylcholine receptor alpha subunit variants in human myasthenia gravis. Quantification of steady-state levels of messenger RNA in muscle biopsy using the polymerase chain reaction.
Article in The Journal of clinical investigation, 1994. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 65 citations in OpenAlex.
- Decreased Serum 5-HT: Clinical Correlates and Regulatory Role in NMJ of MG.Annals of clinical and translational neurology · 2026Article
- Profiling of patient-specific myocytes identifies altered gene expression in the ophthalmoplegic subphenotype of myasthenia gravis.Orphanet journal of rare diseases · 2019Article
- The Muscle Is Not a Passive Target in Myasthenia Gravis.Frontiers in neurology · 2019Review
- IL-6 and Akt are involved in muscular pathogenesis in myasthenia gravis.Acta neuropathologica communications · 2015Article
- HnRNP L and hnRNP LL antagonistically modulate PTB-mediated splicing suppression of CHRNA1 pre-mRNA.Scientific reports · 2013Article
- B-cell-activating factor and autoimmune myasthenia gravis.Autoimmune diseases · 2011Article
- Mechanisms underlying autoimmune synaptic encephalitis leading to disorders of memory, behavior and cognition: insights from molecular, cellular and synaptic studies.The European journal of neuroscience · 2010Review
- Acetylcholine receptor-alpha subunit expression in myasthenia gravis: a role for the autoantigen in pathogenesis?Muscle & nerve · 2009Article
- hnRNP H enhances skipping of a nonfunctional exon P3A in CHRNA1 and a mutation disrupting its binding causes congenital myasthenic syndrome.Human molecular genetics · 2008Article
- Intrathymic expression of neuromuscular acetylcholine receptors and the immunpathogenesis of myasthenia gravis.Immunologic research · 2003Review
- Regulation of acetylcholine receptor gene expression in human myasthenia gravis muscles. Evidences for a compensatory mechanism triggered by receptor loss.The Journal of clinical investigation · 1998Article
- Acetylcholine receptor alpha-subunit isoforms are differentially expressed in thymuses from myasthenic patients.The American journal of pathology · 1997Article
- Myasthenia gravis as a prototype autoimmune receptor disease.Immunologic research · 1997Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease mediated by auto-antibodies that attack the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR). To elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying the decrease in AChR levels at the neuromuscular junction, we investigated the regulation of AChR expression by analyzing mRNA of the two AChR alpha subunit isoforms (P3A+ and P3A-) in muscle samples from myasthenic patients relative to controls. We applied a quantitative method based on reverse transcription of total RNA followed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), using an internal standard we constructed by site-directed mutagenesis. An increased expression of mRNA coding for the alpha subunit of the AChR isoforms was observed in severely affected patients (P < 0.003 versus controls) but not in moderately affected patients, independently of the anti-AChR antibody titer. Study of mRNA precursor levels indicates a higher expression in severely affected patients compared to controls, suggesting an enhanced rate of transcription of the message coding for the alpha subunit isoforms in these patients. We have also reported that mRNA encoding both isoforms are expressed at an approximate 1:1 ratio in controls and in patients. We have thus identified a new biological parameter correlated with disease severity, and provide evidence of a compensatory mechanism to balance the loss of AChR in human myasthenia gravis, which is probably triggered only above a certain degree of AChR loss.
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