Thymomatous myasthenia gravis. novel association with HLA DQB1*05:01 and strengthened evidence of high clinical and serological severity
Background: The relative prevalence of myasthenia gravis (MG) subtypes is changing, and their differential features and association with HLA class II alleles are not completely understood. Methods: Age at onset, presence/absence of autoantibodies (Ab) and thymoma were retrospectively considered in 230 adult Italian patients. Clinical severity, assessed by MGFA scale, and the highest Ab titer were recorded. Furthermore, we performed low/high resolution typing of HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DQB1 alleles to detect associations of these loci with MG subtypes.