Search results for "Chronic thyroiditis"

Bioassays for TSH Receptor Antibodies: Quo Vadis?

2015

Autoantibodies (Ab) to the TSH receptor (TSHR) are responsible for many of the clinical manifestations of Graves' disease (GD) and are specific biomarkers of this autoimmune thyroid disorder (AITD) [1,2,3]. These Ab can be measured either via competitive-binding immunoassays or with bioassays [4]. Antibody-binding assays only report the presence or absence of TSHR-Ab and their concentrations, but do not indicate their functional activity. Bioassays, in contrast, indicate whether TSHR-Ab have stimulatory or blocking activity [5]. Historically, bioassays for TSHR-Ab were research tools used to study the pathophysiology of GD. Recently, however, there are increasing data that demonstrate the c…