| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Submitted on October 28, 2003
Accepted on January 16, 2004
Guy's, King's and St Thomas' School of Medicine, Division of Medicine, Bessemer Road, London, SE5 9PJ, UK.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: paul.banga{at}kcl.ac.uk.
Graves' disease is characterized by the presence of autoantibodies to the TSH receptor (TSHR). There are multiple antibodies to the TSHR, with thyroid stimulating antibodies (TSAbs) and TSH stimulating blocking antibodies (TSBAbs), which in patients can fluctuate over time resulting in changes in disease activity. Recently, animal models of Graves' disease have been developed, but it is not known whether the induced TSAbs and TSBAbs change spontaneously with time to influence disease. We used fibroblasts expressing MHC class II and human TSHR murine model to study anti-TSHR antibody patterns in serial bleeds of 23 animals. Anti-TSHR antibody responses were first detectable after 7 to 8 weeks of first immunization. Moreover, the pattern of the TSAbs or TSBAbs antibodies was selected early in the response. The majority of the animals showed anti-TSHR antibodies which were either TSAb or TSBAb responses, which were maintained throughout the course of 17 to 24 weeks of the experiment. Remarkably, a proportion of mice (13%) displayed presence of antibodies with both TSAbs and TSBAbs, which appeared to cycle over time and thus mimic the fluctuations described in some hyperthyroid patients. Analyses of the linear epitopes to TSHR by peptide scanning showed that there was no early restricted epitope response. Thus, despite using an inbred strain, the initial response appears to target different regions of the receptor in different animals. Our data show that anti-TSHR antibody epitopes in the model display heterogeneity in TSHR epitopes, which vary in individual animals as well as in their regulation.
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
H. A. Aliesky, P. N. Pichurin, C.-R. Chen, R. W. Williams, B. Rapoport, and S. M. McLachlan Probing the Genetic Basis for Thyrotropin Receptor Antibodies and Hyperthyroidism in Immunized CXB Recombinant Inbred Mice Endocrinology, June 1, 2006; 147(6): 2789 - 2800. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. A. Gilbert, A. G. Gianoukakis, S. Salehi, J. Moorhead, P. V. Rao, M. Z. Khan, A. M. McGregor, T. J. Smith, and J. P. Banga Monoclonal pathogenic antibodies to the thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor in Graves' disease with potent thyroid-stimulating activity but differential blocking activity activate multiple signaling pathways. J. Immunol., April 15, 2006; 176(8): 5084 - 5092. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S. M. McLachlan, Y. Nagayama, and B. Rapoport Insight into Graves' Hyperthyroidism from Animal Models Endocr. Rev., October 1, 2005; 26(6): 800 - 832. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH |
| Endocrinology | Endocrine Reviews | J. Clin. End. & Metab. |
| Molecular Endocrinology | Recent Prog. Horm. Res. | All Endocrine Journals |