News

University of Pennsylvania researchers used a component of rats’ muscle cell receptors to increase the punch of a myasthenia gravis treatment derived from an electric ray — an ocean animal that administers a shock like an electric eel. The team’s immune system suppression strategy alleviated the disease in rats and prevented…

The results of a Phase 3 clinical trial are challenging the long-held notion that the same thymus gland mechanism is behind all early-onset cases of the muscle wasting disease myasthenia gravis, researchers report. The team’s article about the subject appeared in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. It…

David Curtis Glebe, a retired 64-year-old public prosecutor now living in Millsboro, Delaware, knows he’s lucky to be alive. In mid-2013, while in Arizona, Glebe was diagnosed with pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer (PNET) — the same disease that killed Apple’s founder and CEO Steve Jobs. After three years of progress…

Conducting high-quality randomized clinical trials (RCTs) in rare diseases such as myasthenia gravis (MG) can be challenging. Researchers at Duke University and Harvard Medical School reviewed study design options that could enhance the assessment of potential new therapies for MG. The study, “Comparative effectiveness clinical…

Researchers report that two autoantibodies found in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) may cause the disease in a subgroup of patients. These autoantibodies might also serve as biomarkers, indicating that MG is a complex disease with different causes. The review article, titled “Agrin and LRP4 antibodies as new…

The Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America brought together a group of experts with the aim of establishing a formal consensus statement for the treatment and care of patients with myasthenia gravis (MG). An overview on the proposed guidelines was recently published in the article, “Developing treatment…

Biological agents that target inflammation-generating immune cells and signaling molecules could be used to treat myasthenia gravis, French researchers report. Biologics have helped people with other autoimmune diseases, so they might be able to restore balance to MG patients’ immune system, the team said. MG stems from an imbalance between…

This week marks the launch of the “7,000 Mile Rare Movement,” a nationwide effort to raise money for research into the 7,000 known rare diseases that afflict at least 30 million Americans. The campaign kicks off Feb. 1 and culminates with Rare Disease Day on Feb. 28. Organized by…

Combining a traditional Chinese medicine known as Qi supplement formula with conventional therapy shows short-term benefits in myasthenia gravis (MG) patients, researchers in China report. But more studies of better quality are needed to support these observations, they stressed. Their study, “Efficacy and Safety of the TCM Qi-Supplementing Therapy…

Researchers in France are recruiting patients for a study to assess the effect of a moderate home-based exercise program on the quality of life and fitness of myasthenia gravis (MG) patients. The study “The benefits and tolerance of exercise in myasthenia gravis (MGEX): study protocol for a randomised…