The origin of the various forms of autoimmune thyroiditis remains unclear. Most
investigations into the pathogenesis of these disorders have focused on immune
abnormalities that might lead to an autoimmune response. However, no unique immune
response to thyroid autoantigens has been identified that either is limited to patients with
thyroiditis or is absolutely correlated with clinical disease expression. CD8 T-cell-mediated
cytotoxicity is thought to be a major cause of thyroid follicular cell damage in thyroiditis. This …