Thymoma followed by paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria: a unique clinical association in the context of multiorgan autoimmunity with a potential role for CD8+ T lymphocytes.

Seven years after a surgically resected thymoma, a female patient affected by myasthenia gravis and Good's syndrome presented with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). Co-culture experiments and spectratyping analyses indicated that CD8+ lymphocytes were involved in damaging hematopoietic precursors. While PNH clones have been identified in various hematological disorders, the sequential association of thymoma and PNH has been unreported so far.

Fatal immunodeficiency in a patient with thymoma and Good's syndrome.

Thymoma is a rare tumor characterized by an association with autoimmune diseases. Immunological abnormalities are increasingly being recognized in thymoma patients and are the cause of a peculiar susceptibility to infections. The authors present the clinical history of a thymoma patient affected by fatal immunodeficiency.