Thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy in black South African patients with Graves' disease: relationship to antiflavoprotein antibodies.

Thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) is a progressive eye disorder associated with Graves' hyperthyroidism, which is generally considered to have an autoimmune etiology. Eye muscle membrane proteins of 64 kd are good markers of ophthalmopathy in patients with thyroid autoimmunity. The 64-kd protein is now shown from a partial sequence to be the flavoprotein subunit (Fp) of mitochondrial succinate dehydrogenase. Hyperthyroidism due to Graves' disease is increasing in incidence among urban black female Africans, possibly because of exposure to environmental risk factors such as increased dietary iodine ingestion and stress. Ophthalmopathy is frequently observed in this clinical context, but its association with serum autoantibodies reactive with Fp has not been examined. We studied 19 black South African patients with Graves' disease during the course of prolonged antithyroid drug administration, of whom 10 had congestive ophthalmopathy, but no clinical evidence for eye muscle damage at the onset. Anti-Fp antibodies were detected in 2 of these patients, as well as in 2 of the 9 patients who did not have overt eye disease. Additionally, the antibodies became positive in 3 patients with ophthalmopathy in whom tests were negative initially, remained positive in 1 patient throughout the study period and became negative in 1 patient with positive tests initially. Ophthalmopathy did not develop in any of the 9 patients who lacked this complication on presentation. The reasons why we failed to demonstrate a close relationship between anti-Fp antibodies and the eye muscle component of ophthalmopathy are unclear although one possibility is that ocular myopathy is an uncommon manifestation in African thyrotoxic patients compared with those of Caucasian origin. The relationship between anti-Fp antibodies and eye muscle inflammation in patients with thyroid autoimmunity of different ethnic origins and environmental settings, needs to be addressed in a large prospective study.