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Thyroid Fetal Male Microchimerisms in Mothers with Thyroid Disorders: Presence of Y-Chromosomal Immunofluorescence in Thyroid-Infiltrating Lymphocytes Is More Prevalent in Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis and Graves’ Disease Than in Follicular Adenomas

Institute of Pathology (C.R., S.A.S.-G., M.-L.H.), Department of Internal Medicine I, Division of Endocrinology (E.R.L., M.A.P., K.H.U., K.B.), Department of Surgery (C.L., K.H., A.E., W.O.B.), University Hospital Frankfurt, D-60596 Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Department of Surgery, Bürgerhospital (R.A.W.), D-60596 Frankfurt am Main, Germany; and Department of Pathology, Wroclaw Medical University (P.Z.), 50-368 Wroclaw, Poland

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. K. Badenhoop, Department of Internal Medicine I, Division of Endocrinology, University Hospital Frankfurt, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, D-60596 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. E-mail: badenhoop{at}em.uni-frankfurt.de.

The presence of fetal cells in a maternal compartment is defined as fetal-maternal microchimerism, which has been detected in thyroids of mothers suffering from autoimmunity. We analyzed the immunohistology of paraffin-embedded thyroid specimen taken at surgery from 49 women with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (n = 25), Graves’ disease (n = 15), or nodular or diffuse follicular adenomas (n = 9), whose childbirth history was positive for sons. By fluorescence in situ hybridization we screened for X-chromosome- and Y-chromosome-specific staining and compared the finding with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) DQ types of the mothers and, where available, their offspring. In 23 thyroids we found Y-chromosome-specific staining, which was more frequent in thyroid autoimmune disease (60% Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and 40% Graves’ disease) than in follicular adenomas (22.2%). There was no significant difference for HLA DQ alleles among women whose thyroids showed Y-chromosome staining and those without. However, a subgroup of all investigated microchimerism-positive mother-child pairs and women with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and Graves’ disease more often had the susceptibility alleles HLA DQA1*0501-DQB1*0201 or DQB1*0301. In conclusion, fetal microchimerism is observed in thyroids of mothers with sons, and this is found more frequently in thyroid autoimmune diseases.

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