Thyroid-stimulating immunoglobulins in Hashimoto's thyroiditis measured by radioreceptor assay and adenylate cyclase stimulation and their relationship to HLA-D alleles

The relationship between thyroid-stimulating immunoglobulins, measured by both radioreceptor assay and adenylate cyclase stimulation, and the HLA alleles was studied in 41 patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis. TSH binding-inhibiting immunoglobulins (TBII) were detected in 9 (22%) patients, and human thyroid adenylate cyclase-stimulating immunoglobulins (HTACS) were found in 21 (51%) patients. Only 2 patients were positive in both assays, and an inverse relationship was observed between TBII and HTACS. In the 21 HTACS-positive patients, HLA-Dw5 was only found in 1 subject, compared to 8 of the 20 HTACs-negative patients (P less than 0.01), while 4 of the 9 TBII-positive patients had HLA-Dw5 compared to 5 of the 32 TBII-negative subjects (P = -0.09). No significant relations were observed between the presence of HTACS or TBII and HLA-Dw3 or HLA-B8. It is concluded, that TBII and HTACS are produced independently in Hashimoto's thyroiditis, and that the production of these autoantibodies seems to be related to the HLA-D region in this disease.