Thymus and autoimmunity

Paraneoplastic Autoimmunity in Thymus Tumors

Autoimmune phenomena are more frequent in thymic epithelial tumors (TET) than in any other human tumor. Mysthenia gravis (MG) is by far the most common autoimmune disease in thymoma patients. MG is characterized by muscle weakness due to autoantibodies against the acetylcholine receptor (AChR), and CD4+ AChR-specific T cells play a pivotal role for the production of these autoantibodies. About ...

Hodgkin's Disease, Autoimmunity, and the Thymus.

Ninety-six patients with permanent pacemakers have been followed up. The total number of faults and pacingbreakdowns has been large, but these are now becoming fewer with the introduction of better techniques. Furthermore, the majority of patients have been able to lead normal lives. Only one patient has died as a direct result of unit failure; the remainder survived a recurrence of Stokes-Adam...

Xenogeneic Thymus Transplantation Pathogenesis of Autoimmunity After

Transplantation tolerance and autoimmunity after xenogeneic thymus transplantation.

Successful grafting of vascularized xenografts (Xgs) depends on the ability to reliably induce both T cell-independent and -dependent immune tolerance. After temporary NK cell depletion, B cell suppression, and pretransplant infusion of donor Ags, athymic rats simultaneously transplanted with hamster heart and thymus Xgs developed immunocompetent rat-derived T cells that tolerated the hamster X...

Programming of neuroendocrine self in the thymus and its defect in the development of neuroendocrine autoimmunity

For centuries after its first description by Galen, the thymus was considered as only a vestigial endocrine organ until the discovery in 1961 by Jacques FAP Miller of its essential role in the development of T (thymo-dependent) lymphocytes. A unique thymus first appeared in cartilaginous fishes some 500 million years ago, at the same time or shortly after the emergence of the adaptive (acquired...