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

  • Xenopus and Zebrafish Models for Pathobiology (W Goessling and A Zorn, Section Editors)
  • Published:
Current Pathobiology Reports

Abstract

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.

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Acknowledgments

This work is partly supported by the Health and Medical Research Fund (HMRF, Project No. 04151086) from the Food and Health Bureau (FHB) in Hong Kong.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biomedical Sciences, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, 21 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong

    Zora Chui Kuen Chan, Marilyn Janice Oentaryo & Chi Wai Lee

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  1. Zora Chui Kuen Chan
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  2. Marilyn Janice Oentaryo
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Correspondence to Chi Wai Lee.

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Conflict of Interest

Zora Chui Kuen Chan and Marilyn Janice Oentaryo declare that they have no conflicts of interest. Chi Wai Lee reports grants from Food and Health Bureau (FHB), Hong Kong, during the conduct of the study.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Xenopus and Zebrafish Models for Pathobiology

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Chan, Z.C.K., Oentaryo, M.J. & Lee, C.W. Xenopus Nerve-Muscle Cultures: a Novel Cell-Based Assay for Serological Diagnosis and Pathological Research of Myasthenia Gravis. Curr Pathobiol Rep 5, 57–65 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40139-017-0126-x

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