Relation between thyroid autoimmunity, BCL2 expression and urinary iodine concentration in thyriod autoimmune diseases

Abstract EN

Background : Peripheral blood mononuclear cells play an important role in perpetuation of autoimmune process ; and maintenance of these cells might be caused by dysregulation of apoptosis.

High urinary iodine excretion was accompanied by an increased prevalence of thyroid autoantibodies.

Aim : Is to evaluate the relationship between apoptotic defects of peripheral blood lymphocyte, namely BCL2 expression and thyroid autoantibdies in autoimmune thyroid diseases.

Design : Fifty females with goitre, aged 13-20 years, residing in Cairo were evaluated; euthyroid (17cases), hypothyroid (23 cases) and hypothyroid (Grave's disease) (10 cases).

We estimated thyroid hormones (T3, T4, TSH), urinary iodine concentration (per 24 hours), thyroid volume by ultrasonography, thyroid peroxidase antibodies, and expression of Bcl2 in peripheral mononuclear cells.

Results : Thyroid peroxidase antibodies was positive in 64.7 % of euthyroid patients, 82.6 % of hypothyroid patients and 100 % of hyperthyroid patients.

Urinary Iodine concentration was high in all studied groups ; 48.88 ± 6.9 ug / L in euthyroid cases, 44.3 + 10.28 ug / L in hypothyroid cases and 46.3 ± 7.0 ug / L in hyperthyroid cases, yet the difference was statistically insignificant.

Expression of Bcl2 was highly significant in patients with positive antibodies (41.68+19.10%) compared to patients with negative antibodies (8.33 ± 4.08 %).

Expression of Bc12 was higher in hypothyroid cases (48.73 + 22.53 %) compared to Grave's disease (35.60 + 12.08 %) and euthyroid cases (23.94 ± 13.89 %).

No significant correlation was found between Bcl2 expression and urinary iodine concentration.