[Immunoregulatory genes in autoimmune thyroid disease]

Autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD) has a strong genetic basis. Although several candidate genes have been studied, the AITD causing genes are still unknown. Major candidate immune regulatory genes include human leukocyte antigen (HLA) gene, Ig heavy chain genes, T cell receptor genes, IL-1 receptor antagonist gene, IL-1 alpha gene and cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) gene. The relation between HLA and AITD has extensively been studied. In addition, polymorphism of the 3'-untranslated region and codon 17 of the CTLA-4 gene has been reported to associate positively with AITD. However, no linkage analyses have showed positive relation between AITD and these candidate genes except for HLA.