A family with
Hashimoto's disease in three generations is described. Seven persons (all female) had
Hashimoto's disease was the only thyroid disorder occurring in this family; no other
autoimmune disease was observed. Circulating thyroid
antibodies were detected in all seven subjects with overt
thyroiditis in this family. Thyroid
antibodies were also detected in low titres in about half of the healthy relatives. Evidence of thyroid
antigen-directed cell-mediated immunity was demonstrated using the leucocyte migration inhibition test in four out of seven subejcts with
thyroiditis and also in about half of the relatives without clinical
thyroid disease. The relative number of
thyroglobulin-binding circulating lymphocytes was elevated in six subjects with
Hashimoto's disease. Again, the percentage of such cells was also increased in about half of the 'healthy' relatives.
Thyroid-stimulating immunoglobulins were detected by the radioreceptor assay in three of the seven subjects with
Hashimoto's disease and in four out of thirteen relatives without overt signs of
thyroiditis. In conclusion, all subjects with
Hashimoto's disease carried immunological markers of autoimmune
thyroid disease in the circulation. In addition, most of the 'healthy' relatives were also positive for some or all of the markers sought in this study. The expression of these markers thus seems to be variable. No clear-cut conclusion could be drawn regarding the inheritance of these markers. HLA genotypes were assayed for thirty-five specificities of A, B and C loci and five of the D loci. There was no correlation between any individual
antigen or HLA haplotype and overt
Hashimoto's disease in this family.