These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Muscle-specific receptor tyrosine kinase autoantibodies--a new immunoprecipitation assay.
    Author: Matthews I, Chen S, Hewer R, McGrath V, Furmaniak J, Rees Smith B.
    Journal: Clin Chim Acta; 2004 Oct; 348(1-2):95-9. PubMed ID: 15369741.
    Abstract:
    BACKGROUND: It has been reported that measurement of autoantibodies to a muscle-specific receptor tyrosine kinase (MuSK) may be useful in the assessment and management of patients with acetylcholine receptor antibody (AChRAb)-negative myasthenia gravis (MG). METHODS: A new and convenient assay for MuSKAb measurement based on 125I-labeled purified recombinant MuSK is described. In the assay, serum samples (5 microl) were incubated with 50 microl of 125I-MuSK and any immune complexes formed precipitated with antihuman IgG (50 microl). RESULTS: With this assay, MuSKAbs were detected in 8/33 (24%) sera from AChRAb-negative MG patients studied. In contrast, no MuSKAb was detected in 53 AChRAb-positive MG patient sera; furthermore, 0/18 Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome sera, 0/5 non-MG neuromuscular disease sera, 0/95 control autoimmune disease sera, and 0/50 healthy blood donor sera contained detectable MuSKAb. In this assay, inter-assay coefficients of variation (n = 5) were 6.8%, 5.9%, and 3.6% for samples with MuSKAbs at 0.73, 0.32, and 0.11 nmol/l, respectively. Similar results were obtained with 125I-labeled rat and human MuSK. CONCLUSION: The 125I-MuSK immunoprecipitation assay we have described provides a simple, specific, and precise procedure for detecting MuSKAbs.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]