Hashimoto’s Disease - Involvement of Cytokine Network and Role of Oxidative Stress in the Severity of Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis

Autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITDs) such as Hashimoto’s disease (HD) and Graves’disease (GD) are archetypes of organ-specific autoimmune disease (Davies et al., 1988; Volpe, 1995). Hashimoto’s disease (HD), Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) or chronic autoimmune lymphocytic thyroiditis was first described by H. Hashimoto in 1912 as struma lymphomatosa (Hashimoto H.,1912). Histological and cytological features of HT include a dense thyroidal accumulation of lymphocytes, plasma cells and occasional multinuclear giant cells. The epithelial cells are enlarged, with a distinctive eosinophilic cytoplasm, owing to increased number of mitochondria. HD is characterized by the presence of thyroid autoantibodies to thyroglobulin (Tg) and to thyroid peroxidase (TPO). The autoantibodies present in this disorder were identified in 1956 by Roitt et al. (Roitt et al., 1956).