1. Antibodies to orbital tissues in thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy
- Author
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Pat Kendall-Taylor and Petros Perros
- Subjects
Adult ,Male ,endocrine system ,Pathology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Eye Diseases ,endocrine system diseases ,genetic structures ,Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism ,Graves' disease ,Eye ,Extraocular muscles ,Pathogenesis ,Endocrinology ,Tubulin ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Humans ,Euthyroid ,Autoantibodies ,Autoimmune disease ,biology ,business.industry ,Muscles ,Autoantibody ,General Medicine ,Fibroblasts ,medicine.disease ,Thyroid Diseases ,Graves Disease ,eye diseases ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Immunology ,biology.protein ,Female ,sense organs ,Antibody ,business ,Orbit (anatomy) - Abstract
Thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy is thought to be an autoimmune disease affecting the orbit. The precise pathogenetic mechanisms are not known, but extraocular muscle and/or orbital fibroblasts are the likely targets of the autoimmune attack. Sera from 41 normal controls, 79 patients with thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy and 72 patients with other autoimmune diseases were examined for antibodies to cultured orbital fibroblasts and extraocular muscle by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Orbital fibroblast antibody levels varied widely in all subject groups studied, and failed to distinguish patients with thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy from patients with other autoimmune diseases or controls. Eye-muscle binding antibody levels were higher amongst patients with ophthalmopathy compared to normal controls and patients with Graves' hyperthyroidism without clinical evidence of ophthalmopathy. Furthermore, eye-muscle binding antibody levels were found to be particularly high in patients with ophthalmopathy and concurrent dermopathy, and in patients with ophthalmic (euthyroid) Graves' disease.
- Published
- 1992
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