Test for devastating muscle illness

A better blood test could help patients

A new way of testing patients for an immune system disorder which can paralyse the muscles may improve the lives of patients.

Myasthenia gravis causes muscle weakness and paralysis, often affecting children and young women.

Many are confined to wheelchairs and have to use respirators as the disease sets in.

More reliable diagnoses and quicker treatment will improve the quality of life for sufferers, many of whom are young women or even children

Professor Angela Vincent, Oxford University

However, in one-in-five cases, the current test will fail to pick up signs of the disease, leading to lengthy delays before treatment can be given.

This treatment can halt or slow the progress of the disease if given quickly enough.

However, researchers at Oxford University and Tubingen, Germany, have found that these patients - who do not produce the immune system antibodies picked up by the existing test - instead produce a different type.

Not only will this allow this 20% to be identified quickly, but also sheds light on the disease - perhaps even eventually leading to targets for new drugs and treatments.

Myasthenia Gravis happens when the body's own immune system mistakenly attacks receptors linking nerves and muscles, preventing muscle from working properly.

As an autoimmune disease, it is in the same class as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.

Professor Angela Vincent, head of the neurosciences group at Oxford's Department of Clinical Neurology, said: "We are delighted to have made this discovery, which should rapidly begin to have a positive impact on patient care.

"More reliable diagnoses and quicker treatment will improve the quality of life for sufferers, many of whom are young women or even children."