Detection of Antipituitary Antibodies in Patients with Autoimmune Thyroid Disease.

Abstract

Abstract.The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of antipituitary antibodies (APA) in patients with autoimmune thyroid disease as determined by Western blot analysis and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Results by Western blot analysis showed positivity for APA in serum of 22.4% of patients with Graves' disease (n= 143, p<0.05) and 18.5% of patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis (n=54, p<0.05), which were significantly higher than 6.2% in healthy controls (n=97).Similar results were obtained with ELISA.

Antiadenohypophysis Autoantibodies in Patients with Nongluten‐related Gastroenteropathies

“…The presence of APA in healthy and disease conditions has been reported, revealing the spectrum complexity of pituitary autoimmunity . We have extended the analysis of APA presence to GEP and others, which were different from CD.…”

“…Antipituitary antibodies (APA) are a group of autoantibodies directed against different cell types of the pituitary gland . These antibodies have been reported in patients with autoimmune diseases such as autoimmune thyroid disease , autoimmune hypopituitarism , and polyendocrine syndrome type I and in patients with growth hormone deficiency (GHD, ). Recently, the presence of APA in sera from children with newly diagnosed CD as well as patients with gluten‐free diet has been reported .…”

Pituitary Antibodies in Women with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis: Prevalence in Diagnostic and Prediagnostic Sera

“…Differences in the methodology that is used to detect the presence of pituitary autoimmunity are partly responsible for the observed variation. As indicated in Figure 2, of the 10 previously published studies, 5 used immunofluorescence (14,15,20,22,23), 3 used ELISA (17,18,21), and 2 used western blotting (16,19). Even within the same methodology, the substrates used for the assay were different.…”

“…A total of 748 articles have been published on this topic from 1925 to present, and are available for download at this website: http:// pathology2.jhu.edu/hypophysitis/resources.cfm. Of them, 67 have reported on pituitary antibodies and of these 10 have measured pituitary antibodies in both patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and healthy controls, spanning a twodecade period from 1988 to 2008 (14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23). None of these 10 studies accounted for confounding factors such as age, race, or presence of thyroid antibodies in the published results.…”