The Immunopathogenesis of Myasthenia Gravis

The discovery of the autoimmune origin of myasthenia gravis (MG) in the 1970s and the realization that the disease represents an autoimmune response to a well-characterized autoantigen, the acetylcholine receptor (AChR), had two major consequences. First, it paved the way for dissecting the mechanism of the autoimmune response in MG; second, it established MG as a disease of humans in which general principles of autoimmunity can be investigated. Central to the autoimmune response in MG are the role of the thymus gland and the manner in which B and T cells participate in it.