Abstract
Thyroid infiltrating cells in 12 patients with JAIT were analyzed. The mean age of the children was 13.6±1.7 years. Three of the patients were hypothyroid and two had elevated levels of TSH in serum. Eight had high titres of thyroid antibodies. About 86% of the thyroid infiltrating cells were lymphocytes, 4% lymphoid blasts, 6% neutrophils and 3% monocytes. The percent distribution of lymphoid cells in thyroid (and blood) was: T cells 61.1±11.3% (55.5±10.7%), T helper cells (Tb) 50.8±12.4% (34.1±10.8%), T suppressor cells (TS) 24.4±6.1% (28.7±6.9%), B cells 24.5±10.7% (8.4±5.7%) and NK cells 13.0±4.8% (8.3±3.7%). 48% of the lymphoid cells in thyroid and 13% in peripheral blood expressed Ia (HLA-D coded structures). 80% of the thyroid epithelial cells also expressed Ia. Th/Ts ratio was 2.2 in thyroid and 1.2 in blood.
The relationship between Th, Ts and Ia expressing cells and clinical, biochemical and serological findings will be discussed.
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Mäenpää, J., Lautenschlager, I., Nyberg, M. et al. THYROID INFILTRATING CELLS III JUVENILE AUTOIMMUNE THYROIDITIS (JAIT). Pediatr Res 20, 1194 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198611000-00123
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198611000-00123