[Susceptibility genes for the development of autoimmune thyroid disease]

Autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) is caused by an immune response to self thyroid antigens. Twin studies and familial aggregation indicated that AITD is a complex disease with genetic factors and major histocompatibility complex is the most clearly established genetic factor. We confirmed the association of the co-receptor CTLA4 with AITD. We have identified the association of the SNP in the Fc receptor-like 3 with several autoimmune diseases, including AITD, SLE and rheumatoid arthritis, which SNP affected the level of autoantibody production. Furthermore, we have identified ZFAT as a susceptibility gene in 8q24 for AITD by whole-genome linkage analysis and further SNP-based dense mapping. The associated SNP in ZFAT affected the antisense transcript of ZFAT, which in turn affected the ZFAT expression.