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Prevalence of interrelated autoantibodies in thyroid diseases and autoimmune disorders

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Abstract

Objective: We determined the autoantibody profile in autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD) and examined the distribution of thyroid-related autoantibodies in other autoimmune disorders. Methods: We tested sera from 234 patients with Graves’ disease (GD), 130 with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT), 249 with other autoimmune diseases, and 50 healthy controls by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay or radioimmunoassay. Results: Autoantibodies except TSH receptor antibody (Ab), anti-thyroglobulin (Tg) Ab and anti-thyroid peroxidase (TPO) Ab were not significantly prevalent in patients with AITD despite a significantly high elevation of thyroid-related Ab. Significant prevalence of autoantibodies related to AITD was observed in type 1 diabetes patients. Elevation of anti-Tg Ab was seen in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), and anti-TPO Ab was elevated in patients with PBC. Although the prevalence of anti-acetyl-choline receptor Ab and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)-related Ab was significant in AIH, primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS)-related Ab were also found in both liver diseases. In myasthenia gravis (MG) patients, thyroid-related Ab and pSS-related Ab were detected in both MG groups, although SLE-related Ab were limited to the anti-muscle specific kinase Ab-positive MG patients. In patients with connective tissue diseases, anti-Tg Ab and anti-TPO Ab were significantly prevalent. Conclusion: Thyroid-related Ab were significantly elevated in all autoimmune diseases. Conversely, the elevations of Ab were not significant in the patients with AITD, suggesting a close relationship between AITD and other immune-mediated diseases.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The First Department of Internal Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, 1-7-1 Sakamoto, Nagasaki City, Nagasaki, 852-8501, Japan

    H. Nakamura MD, PhD, T. Usa, M. Motomura, T. Ichikawa, K. Nakao & K. Eguchi

  2. Department of Metabolism/Diabetes and Clinical Nutrition, Nagasaki University Hospital of Medicine and Dentistry, Japan

    E. Kawasaki

  3. Cosmic Corp., Tokyo, Japan

    M. Tanaka & K. Ishikawa

Authors
  1. H. Nakamura MD, PhD
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  2. T. Usa
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  3. M. Motomura
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  4. T. Ichikawa
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  5. K. Nakao
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  6. E. Kawasaki
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  7. M. Tanaka
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  8. K. Ishikawa
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  9. K. Eguchi
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Correspondence to H. Nakamura MD, PhD.

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Nakamura, H., Usa, T., Motomura, M. et al. Prevalence of interrelated autoantibodies in thyroid diseases and autoimmune disorders. J Endocrinol Invest 31, 861–865 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03346432

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03346432

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