PRODUCTION OF RECOMBINANT FRAGMENTS OF MUSCLE ACETYLCHOLINE RECEPTOR AND THEIR USE FOR EX VIVO IMMUNOADSORPTION OF ANTI-CH RECEPTOR ANTIBODIES FROM MYASTHENIC PATIENTS

摘要

A procedure which involves the production of extracellular domains (or larger parts including these domains) of human muscle acetylcholine receptor (AChR) expressed in heterologous or homologous systems and obtained in sufficiently folded state appropriate for binding major fractions of anti-AChR antibodies in myasthenia gravis (MG) patients and of immunoadsorbing these antibodies when said polypeptides are used as permanently immobilized on insoluble matrixes. This procedure allows the ex vivo selective elimination of the antibodies against human muscle acetylcholine receptor (AChR), as a replacement and improvement of the non-specific plasmapheresis or Ig apheresis, for the temporary repeated treatment of the disease MG.