Toll like receptor 9 (TLR 9) expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMCs) from treated and untreated Grave’s disease patients

Abstract

t is well known that Graves' disease (GD) is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism. It is an autoimmune disease with a complex and an incompletely established etiology. All current treatment modalities are non-satisfactory, so searching in the many etiological pathogenic factors that may account for or contribute to Graves’ disease and the advent of targeted immunomodulation therapies provide opportunities to shed new light on and design new therapeutic approaches for thyroid auto-immune diseases. Our study tried to answer the question is there a relation between Toll like receptor 9 (TLR 9) expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMCs) either from treated and untreated GD patients and the etiology or pathogenesis of this disease. Moreover a relation between TLR 9 expression on PBMNCs and Carbimazole treatment for 1 year as a trial to test the hypothesis of carbimazole immunomodulatory effect on GD. We tested TLR 9 percentage expression on PBMNCs (both lymphocytes and monocytes) by flow cytometry both from newly diagnosed GD patients and after 1 year treatment with carbimazole and compared results with healthy controls.