Evidence of Limited Variability of Antigen Receptors on Intrathyroidal T Cells in Autoimmune Thyroid Disease

Abstract
Patients with autoimmune thyroid diseases, including Graves' disease and Hashimoto's disease, have marked lymphocytic infiltration in their thyroid glands. We examined the gene for the variable regions of the α-chain of the human T-cell receptor (the Vα gene) in intrathyroidal T cells to determine whether the infiltration is a secondary heterogeneous immune response or a more restricted, and therefore primary and presumably pathogenetic, reaction to thyroid autoantigens.

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