Influence of thyroid autoantibodies on thyroid cellular growth in vitro.

Porcine thyroid follicle cells, cultured in suspension, were employed to investigate the effects of immunoglobulin preparations from patients with colloid goitre, Graves' disease or Hashimoto's thyroiditis on thyroid growth in vitro. Epidermal growth factor (EGF, 19 ng/ml) was used as a reference for maximum growth stimulation and produced a 9-fold increase in [3H]thymidine incorporation. Immunoglobulins (1000 micrograms/ml) were found to increase [3H]thymidine incorporation compared to control: from 10 normal individuals 32 +/- 4% (mean +/- SEM, % of EGF response), from 10 patients with colloid goitre 26 +/- 4% (not significantly different from normal), from 10 patients with Graves' disease 19 +/- 3% (P less than 0.05) and from 15 patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis 11 +/- 2% (P less than 0.001). No patient immunoglobulin preparation showed activity greater than that of normal individuals. The lower growth stimulatory activity in Graves' disease and Hashimoto's thyroiditis remained after heat inactivation of serum and is thought to reflect surface binding of thyroid autoantibodies.