Cathepsin V is involved in the degradation of invariant chain in human thymus and is overexpressed in myasthenia gravis
J. Clin. Invest. Eva Tolosa, et al. 112:517 doi:10.1172/JCI18028 [Go to this article.]

Figure 7
Overexpression of Cat V in the thymus of patients with MG. (a) mRNA was extracted from representative blocks of normal or pathologic thymi and analyzed by real-time RT-PCR. Cat V is overexpressed in the thymus of patients with MG, both thymoma (P = 0.006) and thymitis (P = 0.004) compared with healthy controls or with thymoma patients without myasthenia. *P < 0.001. (b–i) Mouse monoclonal antihuman Cat L antibodies mAb33/2 (cross reacts with Cats V and L, b–e) and mAb33/1 (f–i, specific for Cat L) were used to identify Cats L and V in thymi from patients with MG. Panels b and f show the staining pattern of mAb33/2 (Cats V and L) and mAb33/1 (Cat L) respectively in the cortex of sequential sections from normal human thymus. Increased staining for mAb33/2 but not for mAb33/1 is observed in the thymic cortical epithelium of a MG patient with thymitis (c and g). Detail of cortex at a higher magnification from sequential sections in the thymus of a patient with MG (d and h). Exact pattern of staining with mAbs 33/2 (e) and 33/1 (i) in an area of thymitis within the medulla of the same patient with MG. This area is devoid of thymic epithelial cells, but contains a dense network of Cat L-positive and thus labeled with both 33/1 and 33/2 mAbs. Magnifications are ×200 in b, c, f, and g and ×400 in d, e, h, and i. Tissue sections were counterstained with hematoxylin.