title: The genetics of autoimmune thyroid disease.
abstract: Autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITDs), such as Graves' hyperthyroidism, are common disorders involving multiple genes and the environment. Some pathogenetic genes are probably shared between these diseases and non-endocrine autoimmune diseases, whereas others are disease specific. Population studies show that major histocompatibility complex alleles and CTLA4 confer risk for AITDs. Genetic studies have identified over 20 potential loci; only one, mapping to 5q31, has been convincingly replicated. Despite its recent emergence as an autoimmunity gatekeeper gene, linkage of CLTA4 to AITDs was described in only one Caucasian population subset. Like in the case of many complex genetic disorders, identifying AITD pathogenetic genes is limited by the ability of data analysis methods to discern the influence of genes of minor effect in a relatively small database.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Génétique Moléculaire Humaine, Faculté de Médecine, 3029 Sfax, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Hammadi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ayadi
authors.forename: Hassen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hadj Kacem
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rebai
authors.forename: Nadir R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Farid
mesh_terms: D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000235:genetics*; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D006801:Humans