The Association of HLA‐B8 with Atrophic Thyroiditis

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Abstract
Patients [147] with autoimmune thyroiditis were studied with respect to HLA antigens as they related to various clinical features. HLA-B8 was significantly increased among 59 patients with atrophic thyroiditis (57% vs. 26% for controls) but was identical to controls in 88 patients with goitrous thyroiditis (26%). No relation was found in either group between B8 and thyroid autoantibody titer or, in the case of goitrous thyroiditis, the rate of progression of the disease. There seems to be a link between Graves'' disease and atrophic thyroiditis in that both are significantly associated with HLA-B8. The need to take clinical features into consideration when examining for HLA/disease associations is stressed.