What is the scientific evidence that AChR antibodies cause Myasthenia Grevis?
Myasthenia Grevis is the prototypic antireceptor antibody disease and is one of the best understood of any of the autoimmune diseases at the basic science level.
Animals immunized with AChRs develop serum antibodies against the receptor and exhibit both the clinical and electrophysiologic features of human MG.
This model is known as experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis or EAMG.
Passive transfer of human MG IgG to animals also causes EAMG, and immunocytochemical studies have demonstrated IgG at the postsynaptic membrane of motor endplates in myasthenic skeletal muscle.
AChR antibodies decrease the number of available AChRs in cultured muscle cells in vitro.
