Thymoma associated multiorgan autoimmunity

Clinic

• TAMA is a severe often fatal disease that presents in some patients with thymoma.
• Also been referred to in the medical literature as "thymoma-associated graft-versus-host-like disease".
• TAMA is presented with variable combinations of a morbilliform skin eruption, chronic diarrhea, and abnormal liver enzymes. The histopathology of the skin, liver, or bowel mucosa resembles GVHD.
• Thymoma is a common neoplasm arising from the thymus, the primary lymphoid organ where T cells become educated to distinguish "self" from "non self".
• In the setting of thymoma, abnormal thymic education occurs as a result of subtle differences in antigen processing.
• In TAMA these differences result in autoreactive T cells escaping from the thymus. This results in a condition similar to graft-versus-host disease.