Innovative method for the diagnostics of the autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis

Two years have now passed in which the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU) has worked together with the company GA Generic Assays GmbH on a method for the diagnostics of the autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis in the cooperation project "CytoMuSK". Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disease in which - caused by autoantibodies - the communication between muscle and nerve is blocked. Patients with this disease develop autoantibodies that are directed, among other things, against the muscle-specific receptor tyrosine kinase (MuSK). This is an endogenous protein that plays a crucial role in signal transmission between motor neurons and skeletal muscles.

With the firm aim of improving the existing diagnostics procedures for the serological detection of MuSK autoantibodies in myasthenia gravis patients, the team of Prof. Dr. Jan-Heiner Küpper, Chair Molecular Cell Biology at the BTU Campus Senftenberg, has succeeded in generating a special human cell culture that makes the MuSK protein available for autoantibody tests. This cell culture was successfully optimized with regard to a long-term production-technical application. GA Generic Assays GmbH was able to ensure the suitability of the newly generated cell culture for the laboratory chemical detection of MuSK autoantibodies via the blood count and implement it in the diagnostics test based on an automated microscopy procedure.

This project, which was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy as part of the "Unternehmen Revier" model project and the "Regional Investment Concept" (RIK) and coordinated by the sponsoring company Wirtschaftsregion Lausitz GmbH, thus invested in the future-oriented and applied development of a region undergoing structural change. The project is a prime example of the successful transfer of technological innovations from university research to economic utilization in the healthcare industry. Not only the regional expansion of competencies in the field of diagnostics of neurological diseases could be developed, but also the training and retention of specialists strengthen the science and business location Lausitz in the future field of Biotechnology.