Myasthenia gravis-specific aberrant neuromuscular gene expression by medullary thymic epithelial cells in thymoma.

ABSTRACT: Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a neurological disease caused by autoantibodies against neuromuscular-associated proteins. While MG frequently develops in thymoma patients, the etiologic factors for MG are not well understood. Here, by constructing a comprehensive atlas of thymoma using bulk and single-cell RNA-sequencing, we identify ectopic expression of neuromuscular molecules in MG-type thymoma. These molecules are found within a distinct subpopulation of medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs), which we name neuromuscular mTECs (nmTECs). MG-thymoma also exhibits microenvironments dedicated to autoantibody production, including ectopic germinal center formation, T follicular helper cell accumulation, and type 2 conventional dendritic cell migration. Cell-cell interaction analysis also pred

SUBMITTER: Yasumizu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9305039 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature