Hashimoto's disease.

Abstract

The thyroid gland is one of the largest endocrine glands. It is prone to several very distinct pathologies, some of which are extremely common such as autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITDs). AITDs are conditions in which the immune system attacks the body’s own thyroid gland which leads to a deregulation in thyroid hormones production. Because these hormones are used almost everywhere in the body, AITDs can have widespread, serious effects and many symptoms. AITDs can be broken down into two classes: iGraves' disease (GD) characterized by hyperthyroidism and ii-Autoimmune Hypothyroidism, where the major clinical form is Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT). In HT, the antibodies against thyroid peroxidase or thyroglobulin appear characteristically in the patients' sera, while tissue damage due to T cell-mediated cytotoxicity usually contributes to gradual development of hypothyroidism.