[Gene expression of thyrotropin receptor, thyroid peroxidase and thyroglobulin in autoimmune thyroid disease]

To investigate the expression of thyrotropin (TSH) receptor gene in autoimmune thyroid disease and the relationship with expression of thyroid peroxidase (TPO) and thyroglobulin (TG) genes, we examined TSH receptor, TPO and TG gene expression levels in 10 human thyroid tissues by Northern blot analysis, including 7 Graves disease (GD), 2 Hashimoto disease (HT), and 1 normal thyroid tissue. The expression levels of TSH-R gene and TG/TPO gene were different between GD group and HT group. In GD group, TSH-R gene expression was closely correlated to the expression of TPO gene (r = 0.882; P < 0.01) and TG gene (r = 0.723; P < 0.05). The gene expression levels in GD were higher than those in HT and control. In HT group, TPO, TG gene expression levels were relatively lower while TSH-R gene expression levels were still in normal range. The difference in gene expression is possibly related to the types of autoimmune antibodies and various dripping rates.