Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Disorders : Autoimmune Disorders
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1431686
This article is part of the Research Topic Autoimmune Diseases in Childhood View all 22 articles

Effect of methimazole treatment onof Th1, Th17 and Th22 lymphocytes in pediatric Graves' disease patients

Provisionally accepted
Aleksandra Starosz Aleksandra Starosz 1,2*Karolina Stożek Karolina Stożek 1,3Aleksandra Opęchowska Aleksandra Opęchowska 1,2Filip Bossowski Filip Bossowski 1,3Marcin Moniuszko Marcin Moniuszko 1,2,4Kamil Grubczak Kamil Grubczak 1,2*Artur Bossowski Artur Bossowski 1,3*
  • 1 Medical University of Bialystok, Bialystok, Poland
  • 2 Department of Regenerative Medicine and Immunoregulation, Medical University of Białystok, Bialystok, Poland
  • 3 Clinical Department of Pediatrics, Endocrinology, Diabetes with Cardiology Division, Białystok, Poland
  • 4 Department of Allergology and Internal Diseases, Medical University of Bialystok, Bialystok, Poland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Graves's disease is the leading cause of autoimmune hyperthyroidism. Thyroid hormones are an essential element of the endocrine system, playing a pivotal role in the body's development, especially important in children with intensified growth. Disturbance within thyroid tissue certainly affected the whole body. Nowadays, numerous research studies indicate different factors contributing to the onset of the disease; however, the exact pathomechanism of Graves' disease is still not fully understood, especially in the context of immune-related processes. Th1, Th17, and Th22 effector lymphocytes were found to be crucial participants in the disease outcome, as well as in autoimmune diseases. Here, our study aimed at assessing selected effector T lymphocytes, Th1, Th17, and Th22, in newly diagnosed Graves' pediatric patients, together with their association with thyroid-related parameters and potential outcome of disease management. We indicated significant increases in the frequencies and absolute numbers of selected effector lymphocytes in Graves' disease patients. Also, their mutual ratios, as well as Th1/Th17, Th/Th22, and Th17/Th22, seem to be found as significant in those diseases. Notably, low Th17/Th22 ratio values were distinguished as potential prognostic factors for normalizing TSH levels in response to the methimazole treatment. To sum up, our research determines a crucial contribution of Th1, Th17, and Th22 cells in the pathogenesis of Graves'' disease. Moreover, the mentioned subset of T cells is highly likely to play a substantial role in the potential prediction of therapy outcomes.

    Keywords: Graves' disease, methimazole treatment, Th1 lymphocytes, Th17 lymphocytes, Th22 lymphocytes

    Received: 12 May 2024; Accepted: 09 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Starosz, Stożek, Opęchowska, Bossowski, Moniuszko, Grubczak and Bossowski. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Aleksandra Starosz, Medical University of Bialystok, Bialystok, Poland
    Kamil Grubczak, Medical University of Bialystok, Bialystok, Poland
    Artur Bossowski, Medical University of Bialystok, Bialystok, Poland

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.