[Blood serum immunoglobulins from patients with juvenile struma reduce the cAMP level in isolated human thyrocytes].

Clinico-hormonal examinations of 19 patients with juvenile struma revealed in many of them signs of latent hypothyrosis (increased age-specific level of blood serum TTH level and hyperergic reaction to TRH). Incubation of thyrocytes isolated from perinodular tissue of patients with euthyroid nodular goiter with IgG isolated from the blood serum of patients with juvenile struma resulted in a reliably lower content of cAMP in the cells than after thyrocyte incubation with IgG isolated from the blood serum of 9 healthy donors. This is indicative of the presence of thyroblocking antibodies in the blood serum of patients with juvenile struma.

[Determination of autoantibodies to thyrotropin receptors in patients with diffuse toxic goiter].

The blood level of antithyroid autoantibodies to TSH receptors was determined in patients with toxic goiter (TG) before and during antithyroid therapy using two biological methods (by the increment in the cAMP level in slices and primary monolayer culture of human thyroid cells) and a radioreceptor method (by inhibition of TSH binding with its receptors from the animal thyroid). Comparison of the results of these three methods has shown that all methods are almost equally valuable for diagnosis of new cases of TG. However the biological method was shown to be more sensitive and informative with regard to predicting the time of immunological remission during antithyroid therapy.

[Thyroid-stimulating autoantibodies in the blood of patients with diffuse toxic goiter].

The level of thyrostimulating autoantibodies (TSA) in IgG fraction isolated from the blood serum by precipitation of (NH4)2SO4 was determined in 36 patients with diffuse toxic goiter (DTG) and in 8 healthy donors. TCA which were assessed by a rise of the level of cAMP in human thyroid sections (obtained at operation from extranodal tissue of patients with nodal euthyroid goiter) after 2 h-incubation at 37 degrees C with IgG, were determined in 32 DTG patients (89%). The patients were divided into 2 groups with respect to their clinical and thyroid status: with a high and normal or subnormal content of the blood thyroid hormones.