In brief, the first advocates specific MHC II-peptide patterns that influence the efficacy of antigen presentation, and the second emphasizes the role of classical MHC alleles in shaping the TCR repertoire for MG predisposition.
We conclude there is only limited evidence for restricted TCR repertoire usage in human MG and suggest this may be due to the inability of HLA-DR molecules to select for restricted TCR recognition of AChR epitopes.
We have studied cytokine mRNA steady-state levels in 45 normal human (aged 3 days to 78 years) and 34 myasthenia gravis thymuses (aged 4 to 75 years) during aging, and correlated cytokine mRNA levels with thymic signal joint (sj) TCR delta excision circle (TREC) levels, a molecular marker for active thymopoiesis.