Graves’ ophthalmopathy

Association between interleukin 21 and Graves’ disease

H. Y. Jia, Zhang, Z. G., Gu, X. J., Guo, T., Cui, B., Ning, G., and Zhao, Y. J., Association between interleukin 21 and Graves’ disease, vol. 10, pp. 3338-3346, 2011.

Graves’ disease (GD) is an organ-specific autoimmune thyroid disease; 25-50% of GD patients will develop Graves’ ophthalmopathy (GO). The etiology of GD and GO may be multifactorial, but the immune response plays a central role. Many studies have reported that IL-21 has crucial roles in autoimmune diseases. We examined whether IL-21 is associated with the development of GD and GO. The serum concentration of IL-21 was tested in 40 primary GD patients, 42 treated GO patients and 24 healthy controls. Our data show that the serum level of IL-21 is associated with the development of GD.

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