Disappearance of thyrotropin-blocking antibodies and spontaneous recovery from hypothyroidism in autoimmune thyroiditis

Patients with certain types of autoimmune thyroid diseases may recover spontaneously if their immune system stops producing antibodies against the hormone thyrotropin, which stimulates the thyroid gland. The production of thyrotropin-blocking antibodies can cause hypothyroidism in some of these patients. A study of 172 hypothyroid patients with goitrous autoimmune thyroiditis found that nine percent had thyrotropin-blocking antibodies. Of 64 hypothyroid patients with atrophic autoimmune thyroiditis, 25% had thyrotropin-blocking antibodies. Twenty-one of the patients with thyrotropin-blocking antibodies were treated with the drug levothyroxine to return their thyrotropin levels to normal. Production of thyrotropin-blocking antibodies stopped in 15 of these patients. These 15 patients stopped taking levothyroxine, and six had not become hypothyroid after two years. The other nine became hypothyroid within three months. Thyrotropin-blocking antibodies may be one of the causes of hypothyroidism, and production of these antibodies may spontaneously stop in some patients.