Fetal microchimeric cells in blood of women with an autoimmune thyroid disease.
BACKGROUND
Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) and Graves' disease (GD), two autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD), occur more frequently in women than in men and show an increased incidence in the years following parturition. Persisting fetal cells could play a role in the development of these diseases.


OBJECTIVE
Aim of this study was to detect and characterize fetal cells in blood of postpartum women with and without an AITD.


METHODS
Eleven patients with an AITD and ten healthy volunteers, all given birth to a son maximum 5 years before analysis, and three women who never had been pregnant, were included. None of them had any other disease of the thyroid which could interfere with the results obtained.


METHODS
Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and repeated FISH were used to count the number of male fetal cells. Furthermore, the fetal cells were further characterized.


RESULTS
In patients with HT, 7 to 11 fetal cells per 1.000.000 maternal cells were detected, compared to 14 to 29 fetal cells in patients with GD (p=0.0061). In patients with HT, mainly fetal CD8(+) T cells were found, while in patients with GD, fetal B and CD4(+) T cells were detected. In healthy volunteers with son, 0 to 5 fetal cells were observed, which was significantly less than the number observed in patients (p<0,05). In women who never had been pregnant, no male cells were detected.


CONCLUSIONS
This study shows a clear association between fetal microchimeric cells and autoimmune thyroid diseases.
Laboratory for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Trees
T
Lepez
Mado
M
Vandewoestyne
Shahid
S
Hussain
Filip
F
Van Nieuwerburgh
Kris
K
Poppe
Brigitte
B
Velkeniers
Jean-Marc
JM
Kaufman
Dieter
D
Deforce
D000328:Adult; D046528:Chimerism; D005260:Female; D006111:Graves Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D050031:Hashimoto Disease / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D011247:Pregnancy