There is a significant association between HLA-DQA1*0501 and Graves' disease which may be unrelated to the inheritance of this allele on an extended haplotype with HLA-DR3. In contrast to a recent report, HLA-DQA1*0501 was significantly more prevalent among women with Graves' disease than men.
The development of new techniques for the detection of ovarian antibodies has challenged early concepts about the rarity of ovarian antibodies in idiopathic premature ovarian failure (POF), but few attempts have been made to compare results between assays. We have sought to define the prevalence of ovarian autoimmunity in a group of 30 idiopathic POF patients compared to a group of 12 patients with POF plus an associated autoimmune disease and a group of 38 controls, using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and indirect immunofluorescence (IFL). Ovarian antibodies were detected in 27% of idiopathic POF patients by ELISA (not significantly different compared to POF patients with associated autoimmune disease; P < 0.0003 compared to controls) but only 7% of these patients were positive by IFL. In a further, pre-selected group of individuals, all positive for ovarian antibodies by IFL, 53% had measurable antibodies by ELISA. Some overlap was therefore demonstrated between the two techniques but many POF patients had ovarian antibodies detectable by only one method. Immunoblotting studies revealed that no consistent pattern of binding could be demonstrated for these patients. These results call into question the specificity of ovarian antibodies as a marker for autoimmune POF.
SUMMARYPremature ovarian failure is a common condition of uncertain aetiology in most cases, although autoimmunity is thought to play a role in a proportion of eases. The frequency of ovarian antibodies, which may be markers for an autoimmune aetiology in this condition, remains unclear. To dcHne this further, we have examined the sera of 45 women with premature ovarian failure (five with iatrogenie ovarian failure, nine with an assoeiated autoimmune disease, and 27 with idiopathie ovarian failure), as well as four women wilh infertility due to Turner's syndrome and 41 pre-and post-menopausal controls. Using two human ovarian anligen preparations, 24% and 60% of the ovarian failure patients reaeted in an ELISA (P<005 and P
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