CHARACTERIZATION OF LYMPHOID-CELLS IN THE THYROID OF PATIENTS WITH GRAVES-DISEASE

  • 1 January 1984
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 57  (3) , 626-632
Abstract
The distribution and function of lymphoid cells were investigated in thyroid glands obtained at operation from 16 patients with Graves'' disease (GD) using a peroxidase technique to enumerate total T and B lymphocytes as well as helper and suppressor T cell subsets in tissue sections. A spectrum of lymphocytic infiltration was observed and the increase from minimal numbers of immune cells in some GD thyroids to focal thyroiditis in others appeared to be due to a rise in all the lymphoid cell types analyzed, and was not the result of major change in any 1 lymphoid compartment. T cells were diffusely distributed; B cells tended to occur in aggregates. Small numbers of OKT6+ cells (possibly antigen-presenting cells) were observed, although these were less numerous than in lymphoid organs such as tonsil. Lymphoid cell suspensions prepared from the thyroid tissue of 5 of 7 GD individuals treated preoperatively with propranolol synthesized thyroid autoantibodies spontaneously in culture and this synthesis was decreased in the presence of pokeweed mitogen. Since the OKT8+ T cell subset has been shown to suppress Ig production by lymphocyte cultures containing mitogen, the suppressor T cells, which are readily demonstrable in GD thyroid sections, are evidently functional. It seems unlikely, therefore, that a defect in this type of suppression is responsible for the initiation or perpetuation of the autoimmune response to thyroid antigens in GD.