Immunogenetics of endocrine disorders

There is much evidence that type I diabetes (also termed insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus) of man, the Biobreeding (BB) rat and the Non-Obese Diabetic (NOD) mouse results from autoimmune pancreatic beta cell destruction and that the most common forms of thyroid dysfunction (hypothyroidism associated with several different forms of 'thyroiditis' and the hyperthyroidism of Graves' disease) result from the interaction of autoantibodies or autoreactive T lymphocytes with thyroid follicular cells. The contribution of genes in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) to the development of autoimmune beta cell destruction and thyroid autoimmunity was the focus of a recent meeting.