Autoimmune diseases are considered the 3rd leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the industrialized countries. Autoimmune
thyroid diseases (ATDs) are associated with high prevalence of nonorgan-specific autoantibodies, such as antinuclear antibodies
(ANA), antidouble-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (anti-dsDNA), antiextractable-nuclear antigens (anti-ENAs), rheumatoid factor
(RF), and anticyclic-citrullinated peptides (anti-CCP) whose clinical significance is unknown.
We aimed to assess the prevalence of various nonorgan-specific autoantibodies in patients with ATD, and to investigate the
possible association between these autoantibodies and occurrence of rheumatic diseases and, if these autoantibodies could be
considered as predictor markers for autoimmune rheumatic diseases in the future.
This study had 2 phases: phase 1; in which 61 ATD patients free from rheumatic manifestations were assessed for the presence of
these nonorgan-specific autoantibodies against healthy 61 control group, followed by 2nd phase longitudinal clinical follow-up in
which cases are monitored systematically to establish occurrence and progression of any rheumatic disease in association to these
autoantibodies with its influences and prognosis.
Regarding ATD patients, ANA, anti-dsDNA, Anti-ENA, and RF were present in a percentage of (50.8%), (18%), (21.3%), and
(34.4%), respectively, with statistically significance difference (P |
