Science / Medicine : Help for Myasthenia Gravis

Low doses of the anti-tumor antibiotic daunomycin, now used to treat leukemia, may provide the first effective therapy for the degenerative muscle disease myasthenia gravis, immunologist Premkumar Christadoss of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston told a meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB).

Myasthenia gravis, which affects as many as 100,000 Americans, is a so-called autoimmune disease, in which the body attacks itself--in this case a protein, called acetylcholine receptor, which participates in transmitting an electrical signal from nerve cells to muscle cells. The disease is now treated by suppressing the immune system, which does not cure the disease, and renders the patient susceptible to infections.

An MG-like disease is produced in mice by injecting them with acetylcholine receptors. Christadoss found that none of the mice that were also injected with daunomycin developed the MG symptoms. Also, the mice showed no toxic effects or immunodeficiency as a result of receiving the drug.