[Detection of antibodies to citric acid extract of skeletal muscle (CAE-ab) in the sera of patients with myasthenia gravis using indirect hemagglutination].

In this paper are described the method and results for the demonstration of the antibodies to citric acid extract of skeletal muscle (CAE-ab) in the sera from myasthenia gravis (MG) patients with or without thymoma, in patients with other diseases and in healthy controls by an indirect hemagglutination assay (IHA), were described. The CAE-ab titers were positive in 15 (71.43%) of the 21 MG patients with thymoma, the antibody titers ranging from 1:16 to 1:512. In the 35 MG patients without thymoma, as well as in the 32 healthy controls and 22 patients with other diseases, the antibody titers were all negative A statistically significant difference was found between the CAE-ab titers in the group of MG patients with thymoma and those in the other three groups. It was considered that IHA for the purpose of demonstrating CAE-ab could serve as a supplementary diagnostic method for early detection of thymoma in MG patients at an early stage.