Radioimmunoelectrophoresis of Thyroid Antigens and Anti-Thyroglobulin Antibodies in Clinical and Experimental Thyroiditis

Abstract
Summary: Techniques combining immunoelectrophoresis with autoradiography have been used to study antigens and anti-thyroglobulin antibodies in human beings and guinea pigs. One of these utilized a double precipitation method in which the labeled antigen reacted with antibodies previously precipitated by antibodies to the serum proteins. The multiple precipitin lines which sometimes form between thyroglobulin and anti-thyroglobulin were all found to be radioactive and this, together with other observations, suggests that immunochemical heterogeneity exists among the antigen molecules. Thyroid extracts also contained iodoalbumin in both species, and one extract from a patient wtih chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis also contained iodo-γ-globulin. Three classes of antibodies in human sera were found to react with thyroglobulin: slow γ-globulin (γ or γ2), fast γ-globulin (β2A or γ1A) and a macroglobulin (β2M or γ1M). Three similar classes of immunoglobulins could be distinguished by immunoelectrophoresis of guinea pig sera, but the macroglobulin in guinea pig sera was not shown to be an anti-thyroglobulin.