What are the specific causes/links of Myasthenia Gravis?
Myasthenia Gravis is an autoimmune disease. For reasons that are not understood, the body’s immune system, which normally fights infections or cancers, attacks the nerve-muscle communication point. In about one in ten Myasthenia Gravis patients, the disease is caused by a tumor called a thymoma that stimulates the immune system to attack the nerve-muscle junction. It is thought that what causes the disease in other patients is a combination of genetic factors and one or more environmental problems. The best guesses of environmental causes are viruses or bacteria (germs) that stimulate the immune system at the “wrong” time in a patient with genetic background that puts them at risk for this autoimmune disease. An example might be that some types of thyroid disease are caused by problems with the immune system and a similar autoimmune condition can cause MG.
