High risk of hypoxemic COVID-19 pneumonia in myasthenia gravis patients with type I IFN autoantibodies

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) have a higher risk of developing life-threatening COVID-19 pneumonia. In an international cohort of unvaccinated, untreated SARS-CoV-2-infected MG patients, we found that autoantibodies neutralizing type I interferons (AAN-I-IFN) were strongly associated with severe hypoxemic pneumonia. Thymoma further increased the risk of both AAN-I-IFN production and severe disease. These findings suggest a crucial immunological mechanism that could guide risk stratification and targeted interventions for MG patients during viral infections, such as COVID-19.