Evidence that TSH Receptor A-Subunit Multimers, Not Monomers, Drive Antibody Affinity Maturation in Graves' Disease

The TSH receptor (TSHR) A-subunit shed from the cell surface contributes to the induction and/or affinity maturation of pathogenic TSHR autoantibodies in Graves' disease.

This study aimed to determine whether the quaternary structure (multimerization) of shed A-subunits influences pathogenic TSHR autoantibody generation.

The isolated TSHR A-subunit generated by transfected mammalian cells exists in two forms; one (active) is recognized only by Graves' TSHR autoantibodies, the second (inactive) is recognized only by mouse monoclonal antibody (mAb) 3BD10. Recent evidence suggests that both Graves' TSHR autoantibodies and mAb 3BD10 recognize the A-subunit monomer. Therefore, if the A-subunit monomer is an immunogen, Graves' sera should have antibodies to both active and inactive A-subunits. Conversely, restriction of TSHR autoantibodies to active A-subunits would be evidence of a role for shed A-subunit multimers, not monomers, in the pathogenesis of Graves' disease. Therefore, we tested a panel of Graves' sera for their relative recognition of active and inactive A-subunits.

Of 34 sera from unselected Graves' patients, 28 were unequivocally positive in a clinical TSH binding inhibition assay. None of the latter sera, as well as 8/9 sera from control individuals, recognized inactive A-subunits on ELISA. In contrast to Graves' sera, antibodies induced in mice, not by shedding from the TSHR holoreceptor, but by immunization with adenovirus expressing the free human A-subunit, were directed to both the active and inactive A-subunit forms.

The present study supports the concept that pathogenic TSHR autoantibody affinity maturation in Graves' disease is driven by A-subunit multimers, not monomers.