H-2K mutation controls immune response phenotype of autoimmune thyroiditis. Critical expression of mutant gene product in both thymus and thyroid glands.

Autoimmune thyroiditis (EAT) can be induced by immunizing mice against mouse thyroglobulin. A gene critical to the phenotypical expression of EAT was mapped to the H-2K locus by studying B6 mice and its mutant strain B6.H-2ba. To identify organs in which expression of the gene was decisive for the EAT phenotype, we transplanted thyroid or irradiated thymus glands into various strains of normal mice or thymusless nude mice. We found that the pathophysiology of EAT was controlled by the expression of specific H-2 genes in both the target thyroid gland and the thymus gland.