Published: October 2011 Myasthenia Gravis during the Course of Neuromyelitis Optica Masoud Etemadifar a–d , Seyed-Hossein Abtahi a–c , Alireza Dehghani a,e , Mohammad-Ali Abtahi a,e , Mojtaba Akbari a,f , Nasim Tabrizi a,d , Tannaz Goodarzi g a Medical School, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, b Isfahan Medical Students Research Committee (IMSRC), c Isfahan Research Committee of Multiple Sclerosis, d Department of Neurology, Medical School, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, e Ophthalmology Ward, Feiz Hospital, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, f Department of Epidemiology and Statistics, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, and g National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Department of Plant Biotechnology, Canker Group, Tehran, Iran Address of Corresponding Author Case Rep Neurol 2011;3:268-273 (DOI: 10.1159/000334128) ? ? Key Words Neuromyelitis optica Devic’s syndrome Myasthenia gravis Multiple sclerosis Aquaporin-4 Interferon Thymectomy ? ? Abstract Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an inflammatory demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system that has been thought to be a severe subtype of multiple sclerosis for a long time. The discovery of aquaporin-4 (AQP4) antibody as a highly specific marker responsible for the pathogenesis of NMO, not only has made a revolutionary pace in establishing a serologic distinction between the two diseases, but it has also classified NMO as an antibody-mediated disorder. Similarly, myasthenia gravis (MG) is a well-known antibody-mediated disorder
A full-term female neonate was born with severe hypotonia and weakness. Her mother had been treated for neuromyelitis optica (Devic disease) for 6 years
Background: Myasthenia gravis (MG) and neuromyelitis optica (NMO, also known as Devic disease) are rare autoimmune disorders, with upper-limit prevalence estimates in the general population of 15 per 100 000 and 5 per 100 000, respectively. To our knowledge, an association between these diseases has not been previously reported.