Go to JCI Insight
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • By specialty
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Gastroenterology
    • Immunology
    • Metabolism
    • Nephrology
    • Neuroscience
    • Oncology
    • Pulmonology
    • Vascular biology
    • All ...
  • Videos
    • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
    • Video Abstracts
  • Reviews
    • View all reviews ...
    • Complement Biology and Therapeutics (May 2025)
    • Evolving insights into MASLD and MASH pathogenesis and treatment (Apr 2025)
    • Microbiome in Health and Disease (Feb 2025)
    • Substance Use Disorders (Oct 2024)
    • Clonal Hematopoiesis (Oct 2024)
    • Sex Differences in Medicine (Sep 2024)
    • Vascular Malformations (Apr 2024)
    • View all review series ...
  • Viewpoint
  • Collections
    • In-Press Preview
    • Clinical Research and Public Health
    • Research Letters
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Editorials
    • Commentaries
    • Editor's notes
    • Reviews
    • Viewpoints
    • 100th anniversary
    • Top read articles

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Specialties
  • Reviews
  • Review series
  • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
  • Video Abstracts
  • In-Press Preview
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Research Letters
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Editorials
  • Commentaries
  • Editor's notes
  • Reviews
  • Viewpoints
  • 100th anniversary
  • Top read articles
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
Top
  • View PDF
  • Download citation information
  • Send a comment
  • Terms of use
  • Standard abbreviations
  • Need help? Email the journal
  • Top
  • Abstract
  • Version history
  • Article usage
  • Citations to this article

Advertisement

Research Article Free access | 10.1172/JCI117050

Epitopes on the beta subunit of human muscle acetylcholine receptor recognized by CD4+ cells of myasthenia gravis patients and healthy subjects.

L Moiola, P Karachunski, M P Protti, J F Howard Jr, and B M Conti-Tronconi

Department of Biochemistry, College of Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota, St. Paul 55108.

Find articles by Moiola, L. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Biochemistry, College of Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota, St. Paul 55108.

Find articles by Karachunski, P. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Biochemistry, College of Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota, St. Paul 55108.

Find articles by Protti, M. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Biochemistry, College of Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota, St. Paul 55108.

Find articles by Howard, J. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Department of Biochemistry, College of Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota, St. Paul 55108.

Find articles by Conti-Tronconi, B. in: PubMed | Google Scholar

Published March 1, 1994 - More info

Published in Volume 93, Issue 3 on March 1, 1994
J Clin Invest. 1994;93(3):1020–1028. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI117050.
© 1994 The American Society for Clinical Investigation
Published March 1, 1994 - Version history
View PDF
Abstract

We investigated the sequence regions of the human muscle acetylcholine receptor (AChR) beta subunit forming epitopes recognized by T helper cells in myasthenia gravis (MG), using overlapping synthetic peptides, 20 residues long, which screened the sequence of the AChR beta subunit. Since CD4+ lymphocytes from MG patients' blood did not respond to the peptides, we attempted propagation of beta subunit-specific T lines from six MG patients and seven healthy controls by cycles of stimulation of blood lymphocytes with the pooled peptides corresponding to the beta subunit sequence. CD4+ T lines were obtained from four patients and three controls. They secreted IL-2, not IL-4, suggesting that they comprised T helper type 1 cells. The T lines from MG patients could be propagated for several months. Three lines were tested with purified bovine muscle AChR and cross-reacted well with this antigen. All T lines were tested with the individual synthetic peptides present in the pool corresponding to the beta subunit sequence. Several beta subunit peptide sequences were recognized. Each line had an individual pattern of peptides recognition, but three sequence regions (peptides beta 181-200, beta 271-290, and the overlapping peptides beta 316-335 and beta 331-350) were recognized by most MG lines. The beta subunit-specific T lines from controls could be propagated for < 5 wk. Each line recognized several peptides, which frequently included the immunodominant regions listed above.

Images.

Browse pages

Click on an image below to see the page. View PDF of the complete article

icon of scanned page 1020
page 1020
icon of scanned page 1021
page 1021
icon of scanned page 1022
page 1022
icon of scanned page 1023
page 1023
icon of scanned page 1024
page 1024
icon of scanned page 1025
page 1025
icon of scanned page 1026
page 1026
icon of scanned page 1027
page 1027
icon of scanned page 1028
page 1028
Version history
  • Version 1 (March 1, 1994): No description

Article tools

  • View PDF
  • Download citation information
  • Send a comment
  • Terms of use
  • Standard abbreviations
  • Need help? Email the journal

Metrics

  • Article usage
  • Citations to this article

Go to

  • Top
  • Abstract
  • Version history
Advertisement
Advertisement

Copyright © 2025 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)

Sign up for email alerts