LONG-ACTING THYROID STIMULATOR AND THYROID FUNCTION IN RELATIVES OF PATIENTS WITH GRAVES''DISEASE |
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| Authors: | M. BONNYNS,L. VANHAELST,J. GOLSTEIN&Dagger ,C. CAUCHIE,A. M. ERMANS&dagger ,P. A. BASTENIE |
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| Affiliation: | Department of Internal Medicine and Laboratory of Experimental Medicine, University of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium;Department of Radioisotope, Saint-Pierre Hospital, University of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium;Institute of Interdisciplinary Research in Human and Nuclear Biology, University of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium |
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| Abstract: | In ten families, fifty relatives and seven husbands of ten patients with untreated Graves’disease were submitted to clinical examination, biological and immunological investigations. They were compared with fifty control subjects. In the relatives, thyroid diseases were found in 26%, positive LATS-IgG responses in 30%, thyroid antibodies in 23% and abnormal NBEI in 30%. The mean LATS response was significantly greater than in controls. With one exception no overt hyperthyroidism was found in the relatives on the basis of serum PBI, T3 resin uptake test, total T4 and TSH level. From the analysis of the pedigrees, no definite mode of inheritance can be found for LATS and NBEI. These data suggest the existence of a thyroid metabolic anomaly in the families of patients with thyrotoxicosis and argue against LATS as the cause of the hyperthyroidism of Graves’disease. |
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