Efficacy and safety of tacrolimus as long-term monotherapy for myasthenia gravis

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease caused by antibodies against the acetylcholine receptor (AchR), the muscle-specific kinase, and other proteins concentrated at the neuromuscular junction, resulting in muscle weakness [1-2]. Anti-cholinesterase agents are the basic symptomatic treatment for MG [3]. These agents may be sufficient for ocular MG (OMG), but they are usually not so for generalized MG (gMG). Oral corticosteroids, mainly prednisolone (PSL), are widely used as initial immunosuppressive therapy for gMG [3] and have a sufficient improvement effect in more than half of the cases [4-8].

Source: Neuromuscular Disorders - February 22, 2021 Category: Neurology Authors: Kumi Itani, Masataka Nakamura, Reika Wate, Satoshi Kaneko, Kengo Fujita, Shin Iida, Satoshi Morise, Aya Murakami, Takenobu Kunieda, Norihiro Takenouchi, Yusuke Yakushiji, Hirofumi Kusaka Source Type: research