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Cell-Mediated Immunity and Postpartum Thyroid Dysfunction: A Possibility for the Prediction of Disease?¹

Municipal Health Service Southeast Brabant (J.L.K.), Valkenswaard; Department of Immunology (M.H.-M., H.A.D.) Erasmus University Rotterdam, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Clinical Laboratories (H.L.V.), St. Joseph Hospital Veldhoven, 5500 MB Veldhoven; Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences (V.J.P.), University of Tilburg, 5000 LE Tilburg; and Department of Endocrinology (W.M.W.), Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, 1100 DD Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Address correspondence and requests for reprints to: J. L. Kuijpens, M.D., Department of Public Health, Municipal Health Service Southeast Brabant, P.O. Box 135, 5550 AC Valkenswaard, The Netherlands.

Postpartum (pp) thyroid dysfunction (PPTD) is thought to be caused by an autoimmune (AI) destruction of thyroid follicles during the pp period. The chronic thyroid AI process [already present in pregnancy, as shown by the positivity for thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPO-Ab)] becomes overt disease in the pp period, and one assumes that this exacerbation represents a rebound phenomenon after a general immunosuppression during pregnancy. The presence of TPO-Ab in pregnancy has been suggested as a predictor for later PPTD development. Apart from B cells, e.g. production of autoantibodies, various functions of the cell-mediated immune (CMI) system, including those of peripheral T cells, monocytes, and dendritic cells (DC), are also disturbed in AI states.

The objectives of the present study were: determining alterations in various CMI parameters in pregnancies followed by PPTD vs. those not followed by PPTD; and determining the usefulness of these parameters in the prediction of PPTD.

In a prospective study (region: Kempenland, southeast Netherlands), a random sample of 291 women were tested at 12 and 32 weeks gestation and 4 weeks pp for TPO-Ab. Women were followed until 9 months pp, for developing PPTD. PPTD was defined as both: an abnormal TSH, and fT₄ pp women developing PPTD and/or being positive for TPO-Ab (n = 26); and thyroidological uneventful control women of the same cohort, matched for age and parity (n = 21), were tested for thyroid-stimulating antibodies, percentages of peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets using fluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis (CD3, CD4, CD8, CD16, CD56, major histocompatibility complex-class II), for monocyte polarization, and for cluster capability of monocyte-derived DC.

Results were: 1) 31 women (10.7%) were positive for TPO-Ab (TPO-Ab⁺) in gestation (12 and/or 32 weeks); 2) 15 women (5.2%) developed PPTD, of whom 10 were TPO-Ab⁺ in gestation; 3) pregnancy-related CMI alterations consisted of low percentages of CD16⁺CD56⁺ natural killer (NK) cells and a low DC cluster capability at 12 weeks gestation (these functions were normalized at 32 weeks gestation); 4) the TPO-Ab⁺ PPTD⁺ women (4 hyper, 5 hypo, and 1 hyper/hypo) were characterized by a persistently low percentage of NK cells, a lowered monocyte polarization, and a raised percentage of major histocompatibility complex-class II⁺CD3⁺ T cells; 5) the TPO-Ab^- PPTD⁺ women (all 5 hyper) had neither thyroid-stimulating antibodies nor CMI alterations, apart from those normally seen in pregnancy; 6) 21 women were positive for TPO-Ab in pregnancy but did not develop PPTD (they had the same lowered NK cell percentages and monocyte polarization as the TPO-Ab⁺ PPTD⁺ cases, but they had normal percentages of activated peripheral T cells and a lower titer of TPO-Ab); 7) determination of the number of NK cells and monocyte polarization hardly contributed to the prediction of PPTD (as compared with TPO-Ab status), because of strong interindividual variation and close association with the presence of TPO-Ab; and 8) combining TPO-Ab assays with testing for activated T cells was the most optimal parameter for the prediction of TPO-Ab⁺ cases of PPTD in our small test set.

We conclude that TPO-Ab⁺ pregnant women who develop PPTD show several CMI abnormalities other than those seen in normal pregnant women, such as persistently lower percentage of NK cells, a lowered monocyte polarization, and a raised percentage of activated T cells. The latter seems rather specific for the actual PPTD development and is not found in TPO-Ab⁺ (but PPTD) uncomplicated pregnancies. TPO-Ab^- (but PPTD⁺) women had no signs of CMI abnormalities (apart from those specific for the pregnancy state). Although studied cases are low in number, our data are suggestive for the existence of two forms of PPTD: a TPO-Ab⁺ (AI) form (two-thirds of patients, classical PPTD pattern); and a TPO-Ab^- (non-AI) form (one-third of patients, only hyper). Such assumption implies that, at best, two-thirds of PPTD cases can be predicted using either humoral and/or cellular immune tests.

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