Abstract
Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune neuromuscular disease characterized by fatigable skeletal muscle weakness with a fluctuating unpredictable course. One main concern in MG is the lack of objective biomarkers to guide individualized treatment decisions. Specific circulating serum microRNAs (miRNAs) miR-30e-5p, miR-150-5p and miR-21-5p levels have been shown to correlate with clinical course in specific MG patient subgroups. The aim of our study was to better characterize these miRNAs, regardless of the MG subgroup, at an early stage from diagnosis and determine their sensitivity and specificity for MG diagnosis, as well as their predictive power for disease relapse. Serum levels of these miRNAs in 27 newly diagnosed MG patients were compared with 245 healthy individuals and 20 patients with non-MG neuroimmune diseases. Levels of miR-30e-5p and miR-150-5p significantly differed between MG patients and healthy controls; however, no difference was seen compared with patients affected by other neuroimmune diseases. High levels of miR-30e-5p predicted MG relapse (p = 0.049) with a hazard ratio of 2.81. In summary, miR-150-5p is highly sensitive but has low specificity for MG, while miR-30e-5p has the greatest potential as a predictive biomarker for the disease course in MG, regardless of subgroup.