Autoantibodies to acetylcholine receptor in myasthenia gravis

Abstract

We studied the light chain type of autoantibodies to acetylcholine receptor (AChR) by affinity chromatography with monoclonal anti-κ and anti-λ antibodies. The autoantibodies in four of eight myasthénie patients were of a single light chain type; the others comprised both types. In Graves' disease and cold-reactive hemolytic anemia, the pathogenic autoantibodies are confined to a single light chain type in individual patients, and in other diseases, doubtfully pathogenic autoantibodies are invariably mixtures of both light chain types. AChR antibodies may comprise both pathogenic and nonpathogenic types of autoantibody.