Remarkably increased resistin levels in anti-AChR antibody-positive myasthenia gravis

• Serum resistin levels are elevated in patients with AChR-GMG.
• Serum resistin levels are elevated in AChR-MG patients with thymoma.
• Upregulated serum resistin levels were related to disease severity.
• Serum resistin could be a useful marker of inflammation in patients with AChR-MG.

Resistin is a pro-inflammatory cytokine involved in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. To investigate serum resistin levels in patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) and determine if there are associations between resistin levels and disease severity, we measured serum resistin levels in 102 patients with anti-acetylcholine receptor antibody-positive MG (AChR-MG). We further analyzed associations between serum resistin levels and clinical variables in patients with MG. Our findings demonstrate that serum resistin levels are elevated in patients with AChR-generalized MG and AChR-MG with thymoma and are correlated with disease severity. Resistin has potential as a useful serum biomarker for inflammation in AChR-MG.