Case Study: A woman in her mid-30s began to experience drooping eyelids followed by difficulty in swallowing. As the condition progressed she began to feel an overall weakness. Tests indicated that she had an abnormally low number of acetylcholine receptors on her skeletal muscle cells.
Complete each sentence with the correct word or phrase regarding this patient.

thymus, plasmapheresis, thyroid, multiple sclerosis, acetylcholinesterase acetylcholine receptors, myasthenia gravis

1) The diagnosis for this patient is likely an autoimmune disease called .
2) In which case, the patient's immune system is making antibodies that bind to , decreasing their function.
3) Inhibitors of are commonly used to treat the effects of this disease.
4) In severe cases, the may be removed to reduce the release of hormones that stimulate antibody producing cells.
5) Temporary removal of the harmful antibodies from the blood may be accomplished by a technique called .