Lesson 3: Autoimmune Thyroid Disease
This lesson describes the autoimmune nature responsible for most thyroid disorders and describes how patients frequently move from one thyroid disorder to another. It's long been known that patients may have several different autoimmune thyroid disorders in one lifetime. Students will learn how the immune system produces thyroid autoantibodies that cause thyroid disease, and how specific autoantibodies contribute to specific thyroid disorders.
Topics include:
The immune system
Genetic and environmental factors of disease
Environmental triggers
Thyroid autoantibodies
Autoimmune thyroid disease
Discussion topics
Introduction
In the third lesson of this course, students will learn about the development, diagnosis and clinical course of autoimmune thyroid disorders. Most thyroid disorders are autoimmune in nature. In other words, the underlying defect lies in the immune system rather than the thyroid gland.
The immune system includes white blood cells, primarily lymphocytes, and organs, such as the bone marrow, lymph glands and tonsils, that produce and store these blood cells. Most immune system cells are produced in the bone marrow, the pulpy inner section of bone. Immune system cells are also produced and stored in the thymus gland, the lymph glands and lymphoid tissue found in other organs including the tonsils, adenoids and gastric mucosa.
Immune system cells circulate in the blood, scouting for foreign organisms, such as bacteria and viruses. The immune system recognizes the protein particles or antigens of these substances as foreign. Immune system cells are also on the alert for malignant cells. The immune system cells destroy any damaged, infected or malignant cells, and it launches an attack against bacteria and viruses, which is known as the immune response.
In the immune response, the immune system cells produce a number of different chemicals, and it produces antibodies that specifically target the antigen that caused the response. For instance, if we’re exposed to the influenza virus or if we’re vaccinated, our immune system produces antibodies against the influenza virus. While we’re healing from the viral infection, our immune system cells are producing antibodies against this virus.
The antibodies we produce after a successful influenza vaccination or an influenza infection are able to neutralize or destroy the influenza virus the next time we’re exposed to it. On subsequent exposures our immune system produces more of these antibodies and we remain immune or free from infection. The immune system uses specific proteins known as immunoglobulins for antibody production. Therefore, antibodies are also known as immunoglobulins.
In autoimmune thyroid disease, which is customarily referred to as AITD, the immune system is at fault, and the thyroid gland is the victim. In this lesson, students will learn how the immune system strays from its normal function and produces autoantibodies. Autoantibodies are protein immunoglobulins that target the body’s own proteins, the proteins that make up our tissues and cells. Thyroid autoantibodies, which are usually called thyroid antibodies, are antibodies that target the thyroid gland.
In this lesson, students will learn how some thyroid antibodies cause hyperthyroidism while other thyroid antibodies cause inflammation or destroy thyroid cells. Participants in this course will also learn about the different thyroid antibodies and how they affect thyroid health. In addition, students will learn about the different autoimmune thyroid disorders, and they’ll learn how individuals can have different thyroid disorders at different times in one lifetime.
This lesson also covers the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to or trigger AITDs. Students of this course will learn how lifestyle influences contribute to disease and how lifestyle changes can be incorporated into a healing plan to help patients achieve remission.
