Monoclonal anti-idiotypic antibodies against human anti-thyroglobulin autoantibodies recognize idiotopes shared by disease-associated and natural anti-thyroglobulin autoantibodies.
Monoclonal murine anti-idiotypic antibodies generated against purified human anti-thyroglobulin (TG) antibodies from a patient with Hashimoto's thyroiditis recognized two major clusters of idiotopes (1C2 and 1B1) on human anti-thyroglobulin antibodies which were framework and paratope-related. A survey of affinity-purified autoantibodies from Hashimoto's patients indicated that the 1C2 and 1B1 idiotopes are expressed on the disease-associated anti-TG antibodies from several patients. 1C2 and 1B1 idiotopes are also detected on affinity-purified anti-TG antibodies isolated from serum of healthy donors and with therapeutic preparations of immunoglobulins obtained from plasma pools of healthy individuals. The observation that both framework and paratope-related idiotopes are shared by natural and patients' autoantibodies suggests that the anti-TG autoantibodies found in sera of patients with Hashimoto's disease represent an abnormal expansion of normal autoreactive B cell clones rather than the emergency of an antigen-driven, disease-specific B cell response.