Cellular Immunity and Specific Defects of T-Cell Suppression in Patients With Autoimmune Thyroid Disorders

Graves’ disease, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and idiopathic myxoedema are autoimmune thyroid diseases characterised by the production of autoantibodies against the microsomal/ microvillar antigen, thyroglobulin and/or the TSH receptor. Sensitisation of T lymphocytes to antigens contained within crude thyroid homogenates has also been demonstrated and cellular immunity has been proposed as an additional mechanism in the pathogenesis of these disorders,1 but the determinants to which this response is directed have not been identified.