Anticardiolipin Antibodies and Immunoglobulin M and A in Graves Disease

Background : Graves disease is an autoimmune disease, characterized by the presence of antib odie s directed to TSH receptor or nearby regions as well as antib odies to double strands DNA (dsDNA ) anticardiolipin and nuclear antibodies. This study evalu ated anticardiolipin and rheumatoid factor, such as IgA and IgM antibodies in patients with Graves disease . Patients and methods: Anticardiolipin and rheumatoid factor were measured in se ra of 84 patients (29 male, 55 female) with ev idence of Graves disease and 41 healthy individuals (15 male, 26 female ) with negati ve history of hyperthyroidi sm and other auto immune diseases. Results: Mean level of anti cardiolipin antibod y (ACLA ) in patients and control groups were 0.192±0.11 and 0.087±0.200 optical density (0 0) respectively. The level of IgMRhematoid factor (IgM-RF) of patients and healthy control groups was the same , whereas the mean IgA-RF levels in patients was significantly lower than control group. Conclusion: Anticardi ol ipin level in different studies showed variou s results which may be due to genetic backgrounds. Lower level of IgA-RF may also be due to environmental factors, which stimulate specific lymphocytes that producing this type of antibodies