Autoimmunity in concurrent myasthenia gravis and pemphigus erythematosus

Abstract

A patient with myasthenia gravis, a malignant thymoma and pemphigus erythematosus has antibodies to the cross striations of skeletal muscle, to the intercellular areas of stratified squamous epithelium and to nuclei as revealed by indirect immunofluorescence. Comparable observations were made in other cases. The concurrence of these rare immunologic derangements indicate some common underlying mechanisms.