Long-term therapeutic efficacy and safety of low-dose tacrolimus (FK506) for myasthenia gravis

Journal of the Neurological Sciences
Masayoshi TadaMasatoyo Nishizawa

Abstract

To elucidate the long-term therapeutic efficacy and safety of low-dose FK506 (tacrolimus) in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG). We treated nine patients with MG (all women: age range: 35-83 years (mean: 51.1 years); MGFA classification: 4 type IIa, 4 type IIb, and 1 type IVb patients) with FK506 for more than 24 months (observation period: 24-46 months). All the patients had undergone extended thymectomy before FK506 treatment; two patients (22.2%) had noninvasive thymoma and six (66.7%) had thymic hyperplasia. We evaluated total Quantitative MG (Q-MG) score, anti-acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibody titer in the blood, interleukin 2 (IL-2) production in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), administration dosage of prednisolone (PSL), and adverse effects of FK506. A reduction in steroid dosage of 50% without worsening of the symptoms was observed 1 year after FK506 administration in three out of six steroid-dependent MG patients (50.0%). The total Q-MG scores (range: 0-39 points) at 6 months and 1 year after FK506 administration improved by 3 points or more in six (66.7%) and seven (77.8%) out of nine patients, respectively. The efficacy of FK506 was maintained for more than 2 years. Although adverse effects were ob...Continue Reading

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Citations

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