Autoimmune Thyroid Disease: Further Developments in Our Understanding*

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Abstract
DEVELOPMENTS in thyroid autoimmunity have been reviewed in this journal previously (1, 2), but since then there have been major advances in our understanding of the mechanisms responsible for autoimmunity in general, generated in large part by the application of novel molecular techniques. These discoveries in turn have been used to develop new directions of research in the field of autoimmune thyroid disorders, which will be the subject of the present article. Approximately the same format has been adopted as in our previous review (1), in an attempt to provide continuity, but we have chosen to emphasize particularly work conducted during the last 5 yr for obvious reasons. Before considering the thyroid disorders themselves, however, it is worth providing a brief resume of what is known currently about immunoregulation and self-tolerance in general, and then reviewing the results obtained in animal models of thyroiditis that continue to generate otherwise unobtainable insights into pathogenesis.

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