title: Failure to find an association between hepatitis C virus and thyroid autoimmunity.
abstract: A high frequency of hepatitis C antibodies has been reported from France in patients with autoimmune thyroiditis. Two cases of Hashimoto's thyroiditis in association with chronic active hepatitis and hepatitis C infection have also been reported. We have examined this potential association in 46 patients with autoimmune hypothyroidism and found that 16 apparently had hepatitis C antibodies in one of the two commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), but all patients were negative in a confirmatory commercially available recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA-3) indicating that none of the patients were truly positive for hepatitis C antibodies. We also tested sera from 111 patients with proven hepatitis C infection and found no increased prevalence of thyroid autoantibodies. These results suggest that hepatitis C infection is not a risk factor for the development of thyroid autoimmunity in the United Kingdom.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Clinical Sciences Centre, Northern General Hospital, Sheffield, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Metcalfe
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ball
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kudesia
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Weetman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000032:analysis; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007453:Iodide Peroxidase / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D013967:Thyroiditis, Autoimmune / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D001323:Autoantibodies; D007453:Iodide Peroxidase