Bay B H, Sit K H, Pang A S
Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore.
Immunobiology. 1994 Apr;190(3):290-4. doi: 10.1016/S0171-2985(11)80276-7.
In autoimmune thyroiditis, infiltrating lymphocytes play an important role in the disease process since they are known to release cytokines which can alter thyroid functions. The degree and site of lymphocytic infiltration in the thyroid gland have been used to differentiate between Hashimoto's disease and focal lymphocytic thyroiditis. Intraluminal lymphocytes have been reported to be absent in focal thyroiditis but present in Hashimoto's disease. However, we demonstrate here by transmission electron microscopy, that extrafollicular and intrafollicular lymphocytes could be present in focal lymphocytic thyroiditis. This seems to support the notion that focal lymphocytic thyroiditis could represent part of the spectrum of autoimmune thyroiditis and Hashimoto's thyroiditis.
在自身免疫性甲状腺炎中，浸润的淋巴细胞在疾病进程中发挥重要作用，因为已知它们会释放可改变甲状腺功能的细胞因子。甲状腺中淋巴细胞浸润的程度和部位已被用于区分桥本氏病和局灶性淋巴细胞性甲状腺炎。据报道，局灶性甲状腺炎中不存在管腔内淋巴细胞，但桥本氏病中存在。然而，我们在此通过透射电子显微镜证明，局灶性淋巴细胞性甲状腺炎中可能存在滤泡外和滤泡内淋巴细胞。这似乎支持了局灶性淋巴细胞性甲状腺炎可能代表自身免疫性甲状腺炎和桥本氏甲状腺炎谱系一部分的观点。
