Muscle inheritance probability

Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disease caused by dysfunction between nerves and muscles. When suffering from this disease, patients will experience drooping eyelids, blurred vision, dull facial expression, difficulty in raising arms and going up and down stairs, etc. Many patients with myasthenia gravis are worried about whether this disease will be hereditary.

Case 1

Myasthenia gravis is a polymorphic autoimmune disease. More than 4 percent of patients have a family history, and the genetic consistency of monozygotic twins is 36 percent. Some familial myasthenia gravis is caused by neuromuscular conduction defects and is called congenital myasthenia gravis. It is an autosomal recessive inheritance and acetylcholine receptor antibodies cannot be detected in the serum. Most cases occur at birth.

Case 2

Other patients with familial myasthenia gravis have a late onset and have acetylcholine receptor antibodies in their serum. The inheritance of myasthenia gravis is unclear.

Case 3

About 9 percent of myasthenia gravis patients also have other autoimmune diseases such as thyroiditis and rheumatoid arthritis. The increased positive rate of acetylcholine receptor antibodies in the patients' first-degree family members also suggests that myasthenia gravis has a certain genetic tendency. Studies have shown that susceptibility to myasthenia gravis is related to the gene expression of HLA, acetylcholine receptors and T cells, and is characterized by complex multi-gene control.

Case 4

Some myasthenia gravis patients are often concerned about whether myasthenia gravis will be passed on to the next generation while they are treating the disease. The answer is that myasthenia gravis is not contagious, but it is a hereditary disease.

Case 5

Although myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disease, genetic factors play an indispensable role in the onset of myasthenia gravis, especially autoantibody-negative congenital myasthenia gravis.

Case 6

Histocompatibility antigen testing found that patients in Europe and the United States, Japan and my country were associated with HLA-DR2, HLA-B12 and DR4, respectively. Studies on thymocyte function have shown that the surface of myoid epithelial cells in the thymus has AChR. Under the influence of specific genetic factors and viral infection during the embryonic period, this receptor leads to sensitization of the nicotinic acid-AChR of the myoid epithelial cells in the thymus and the production of circulating antibodies. After passing through the systemic circulation, and with the activation and participation of complement, the postsynaptic membrane is destroyed, leading to a series of morphological changes such as dissolution and destruction of the postsynaptic membrane, thus causing symptoms of muscle weakness.