Thyroid gland tumour, pemphigus foliaceus and myasthenia gravis in the daughter of a woman with myasthenia gravis

We describe a rare case of pemphigus foliaceus associated with familial mya sthenia gravis (MG). A 35-year-old woman developed MG during oral corticost eroid treatment for pemphigus foliaceus. She had been operated on for a thy roid gland tumour that was confirmed histopathologically to be papillary ca rcinoma without metastasis. At the time of treatment, her mother had had MG for 30 years and undergone thymectomy 22 years ago. A specific ELISA techn ique showed that antidesmoglein I antibody was present in the daughter. The re are many reports of multiple diseases such as pemphigus, thymoma, malign ancy, and other autoimmune diseases associated with MG. However, familial M G following pemphigus foliaceus has not been reported previously.