Correlation of Antithyroglobulin and Antithyroid-Peroxidase Antibody Profiles with Clinical and Ultrasound Characteristics of Chronic Thyroiditis

Patients with chronic thyroiditis were selected for study according to specific selection criteria, and comparisons of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method to a hemagglutination method were performed. The ELISA assays contained antithyroglobulin (TG) antibody and antithyroid-peroxidase (PO) antibody, the latter using recombinant human TPO. Four groups were established from 437 patients with chronic thyroiditis; 316 with both antibodies (TG + PO group), 75 with TG antibody alone (TG group), 10 with PO antibody alone (PO group), and 36 with no such antibodies (N group). The hemagglutination assay resulted in much different antibody profiles: PO group based on ELISA occurred in only 2%, whereas a group with microsome antibody alone based on hemagglutination assay occurred in 39%. Subsequently, studies of disease characteristics including age, gender, familial predisposition, thyroid function, and morphology of the gland were performed among the four groups of patients based on ELISA profiles b...