Association Of Killer Cell Immunoglobulin-Like Receptor Gene Diversity With Autoimmune Thyroid Diseases

Background: Autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD), including Graves disease (GD), Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT), idiopathic myxedema (IM), postpartum thyroiditis (PPT), and thyroid-associated orbitopathy (TAO), are organ-specific autoimmune diseases. AITD are the most common autoimmune disorders in population, affecting between 2% and 4% of women and up to 1% of men. Graves disease and Hashimoto's thyroiditis are the main forms of AITD, the prevalence of them increases year and year, and they are the common endocrine diseases in our country.AITD are organ-specific T-cell mediated autoimmune diseases. Widely accepted model for the pathogenesis of AITD suggests that each subject has a background inherited predisposition to autoimmunity, with additional environmental factors that trigger or contribute to the development of the disease. As organ-specific autoimmune diseases, immunological mechanism plays an important role in the pathogenesis of AITD. Evidence shows that subject has background inherited defect of suppressor T cells (Ts) in the pathogenesis of AITD. Environmental factors contribute to the breakdown of immunological self-tolerance that results in the presentation of host autoantigens and expansion of autoreactive lymphocyte clones which leads to a series of autoimmune response to thyroid autoantigens. Not only cellular immunity but also hormonal immunity participate in the progress of AITD, including production of autoantibodies, abnormal immune activity of CTL and NK cells, release of excessive...