Thymomas and autoimmune disease
People with thymoma are more likely to have an autoimmune disease (sometimes called autoimmune condition). This is when the immune system fights healthy cells instead of infection and disease.
What is an autoimmune disease?
People with a thymoma are more likely to also have an autoimmune disease. The immune system protects the body from infection and disease.
Sometimes the immune system makes a mistake and attacks normal healthy cells in the body. These attacks can cause autoimmune disease.
The thymus helps keep the immune system working properly. This may help explain the link between autoimmune disease and thymoma.
These are some of the common autoimmune conditions linked with thymoma.
Myasthenia gravis
The most common condition linked to thymoma is myasthenia gravis. This causes weakness in the muscles. It happens when connections between nerves and muscles get blocked. It usually affects muscles in the eyes and face, but can spread to other parts of the body. About half of the people with thymoma also have myasthenia gravis.
People diagnosed with myasthenia gravis will have a CT scan to look for any signs of thymoma developing.
Good's syndrome
Good's syndrome (sometimes called hypogammaglobulinaemia) is a rare condition where people have very low levels of antibodies in the blood. The immune system makes antibodies to find and destroy infections.
If you do not have enough antibodies, you are more likely to get infections and take longer to recover from them. People with thymoma also have low levels of antibodies in the blood.
Pure red cell aplasia
This condition stops the body making enough red blood cells. Red blood cells carry oxygen around the body. If you do not have enough of them, you can become tired and sometimes breathless.
If you have an autoimmune condition and are diagnosed with thymus cancer, your cancer team will work with the doctors who help you manage it.
About our information
-
References
Below is a sample of the sources used in our thymus cancer information. If you would like more information about the sources we use, please contact us at cancerinformationteam@macmillan.org.uk
ESMO Annals of Oncology. Thymic Epithelial Tumours: ESMO Clinical Practice Guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and follow-up: 2015. Available from https://www.esmo.org/guidelines/guidelines-by-topic/lung-and-chest-tumours/thymic-epithelial-tumours (accessed July 2021)
Marx A, Chan JK, Coindre JM, et al. The 2015 World Health Organization Classification of Tumours of the Thymus: Continuity and Changes. Journal of Thoracic Oncology 2015; 10: 1383-95 (accessed July 2021)
International Thymic Malignancy Interest Group (ITMIG): About Thymic Tumours - symptoms, staging, standard treatment options. Available from https://itmig.org/about-thymic-tumors (accessed July 2021)
-
Reviewers
This information has been written, revised and edited by Macmillan Cancer Support’s Cancer Information Development team. It has been reviewed by expert medical and health professionals and people living with cancer. It has been approved by Senior Medical Editor, Dr David Gilligan, Consultant Clinical Oncologist.
Our cancer information has been awarded the PIF TICK. Created by the Patient Information Forum, this quality mark shows we meet PIF’s 10 criteria for trustworthy health information.
The language we use
We want everyone affected by cancer to feel our information is written for them.
We want our information to be as clear as possible. To do this, we try to:
- use plain English
- explain medical words
- use short sentences
- use illustrations to explain text
- structure the information clearly
- make sure important points are clear.
We use gender-inclusive language and talk to our readers as ‘you’ so that everyone feels included. Where clinically necessary we use the terms ‘men’ and ‘women’ or ‘male’ and ‘female’. For example, we do so when talking about parts of the body or mentioning statistics or research about who is affected.
You can read more about how we produce our information here.
Date reviewed
Our cancer information meets the PIF TICK quality mark.
This means it is easy to use, up-to-date and based on the latest evidence. Learn more about how we produce our information.
How we can help