Xenopus Nerve-Muscle Cultures: a Novel Cell-Based Assay for Serological Diagnosis and Pathological Research of Myasthenia Gravis

Purpose of Review: At present, the most common diagnostic measures for the autoimmune neuromuscular disease myasthenia gravis (MG) are radioimmunoprecipitation assay (RIPA), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and cell-based assay (CBA). Considering the pitfalls of these diagnostic assays, this review describes the advantages of using Xenopus tissue cultures for MG diagnosis and research.

Recent Findings: Our recent study described a novel CBA involving Xenopus tissue cultures for MG serological diagnosis. Moreover, this CBA can potentially be applied to elucidate the pathogenic mechanisms underlying acetylcholine receptor endocytosis and degradation and to develop and validate potential therapeutic strategies for MG.

Summary: Although most CBAs are relatively labor intensive, Xenopus CBA is a promising tool for the initial clinical serological diagnosis and for the pathological research of MG. The future studies will be devoted to gain a better understanding of the etiology of MG and to provide a therapeutic intervention for this disease.