FIGHT-MG

Dr Sonia Berrih-Aknin

Scientific Coordinator of FIGHT-MG, based at Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm) in Paris, France

Research field

Immunology, Neurology

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Who?

“Studying a disease in laboratory animals is not sufficient. Interactions with patients are crucial to understand their distress. This gives me wings to go further and faster”, says Dr Sonia Berrih-Aknin, Director of Research at Inserm. She is an expert in the autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis (MG).

Why?

MG is an alarming disease that causes muscular weakness. It affects the facial muscles first and may then spread to other muscles such as respiratory muscles, causing respiratory failure. Dr Berrih-Aknin explains: “We want to improve the quality of life of patients by understanding the cause and mechanisms of MG.”

What?

The principal aim of FIGHT-MG is to discover the causes and mechanisms of MG. “We do this by searching for genetic variants, environmental factors, immunological molecules, and muscle molecules associated with MG. These discoveries are starting points for improving the diagnosis and treatment of MG.”

How?

“Research on rare diseases such as MG requires combining resources and expertise from many countries. FIGHT-MG gathers 12 research groups from 7 countries. We share facilities, skills, and knowledge. This enables us to radically improve the diagnosis and treatment of MG. It is great that Europe supports this initiative.”

Myasthenia gravis: from cause to cure

FIGHT-MG scientists study myasthenia gravis at the level of nerve and muscle cells. This image shows the connection of nerve cells and muscle cells (the neuromuscular junction) seen through a microscope.

Image credit: Inserm

Route to MG: Foreign RNA in the thymus induces overproduction of interferon-β (IFN-β) and acetylcholine receptors (RACh). This attracts immunological cells (B anti-RACh), which produce auto-antibodies that block the RACh in the neuromuscular junction.

Image credit: R. Le Panse, Inserm