Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012:2012:623852.
doi: 10.1155/2012/623852. Epub 2012 Feb 28.

New genetic insights from autoimmune thyroid disease

Terry F Davies  1 , Rauf Latif, Xiaoming Yin
Affiliations

New genetic insights from autoimmune thyroid disease

Terry F Davies et al. J Thyroid Res. 2012.

Abstract

The autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITDs) (Graves' disease and Hashimoto's thyroiditis) are complex genetic diseases which most likely have more than 20 genes contributing to the clinical phenotypes. To date, the genes known to be contributing fall into two categories: immune regulatory genes (including HLA, CTLA4, PTPN22, CD40, CD25, and FCRL3) and thyroid-specific genes (TG and TSHR). However, none of these genes contribute more than a 4-fold increase in risk of developing one of these diseases, and none of the polymorphisms discovered is essential for disease development. Hence, it appears that a variety of different gene interactions can combine to cause the same clinical disease pattern, but the contributing genes may differ from patient to patient and from population to population. Furthermore, this possible mechanism leaves open the powerful influence of the environment and epigenetic modifications of gene expression. For the clinician, this means that genetic profiling of such patients is unlikely to be fruitful in the near future.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Davies T. Hypothyroidism and thyroiditis. In: Wilson J, Foster DW, Larsen PR, Kronenberg H, editors. Williams Textbook of Endocrinology. Orlando, Fla, USA: W.B. Saunders; 2002. pp. 423–456.
    1. Vanderpump MPJ, Tunbridge WMG, French JM, et al. The incidence of thyroid disorders in the community: a twenty-year follow-up of the Whickham Survey. Clinical Endocrinology. 1995;43(1):55–68. - PubMed
    1. Hall R, Stanbury JB. Familial studies of autoimmune thyroiditis. Clinical and Experimental Immunology. 1967;2:719–725. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chopra IJ, Solomon DH, Chopra U. Abnormalities in thyroid function in relatives of patients with Graves' disease and Hashimoto's thyroiditis: lack of correlation with inheritance of HLA B8. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 1977;45(1):45–54. - PubMed
    1. Burek CL, Hoffman WH, Rose NR. The presence of thyroid autoantibodies in children and adolescents with autoimmune thyroid disease and in their siblings and parents. Clinical Immunology and Immunopathology. 1982;25(3):395–404. - PubMed