Overexpression of phosphodiesterases in experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis: suppression of disease by a phosphodiesterase inhibitor Revital Aricha * , Tali Feferman * , Miriam C. Souroujon * ,† and Sara Fuchs * ,1 * Department of Immunology, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel; and † The Open University of Israel, Raanana, Israel 1 Correspondence: Department of Immunology, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel. E-mail: sara.fuchs@weizmann.ac.il <h3>SPECIFIC AIMS</h3> Our main goal is to identify new, yet unknown molecules that are involved in the pathogenesis of myasthenia gravis (MG), an autoimmune disorder characterized by muscle weakness, and to test their possible application as drug targets for treatment of the disease. Microarray analysis has indicated that phosphodiesterase (PDE) expression is up-regulated in experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis (EAMG) in rats as compared with healthy controls. Therefore, our specific aims were to 1) analyze alterations in the expression of PDE subtypes in lymph node cells (LNC) and muscle in rat EAMG; and 2) test the effect of PDE inhibition, particularly by pentoxifylline (PTX), on the course of EAMG and on PDE expression, and to study the underlying mechanism(s) of EAMG suppression. <h3>PRINCIPAL FINDINGS</h3> <h3>1. Specific PDE subtypes are up-regulated in
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