The Antibody Response to Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress in Hashimoto's Thyroiditis

Purpose: We aimed to investigate the presence of antibodies (Anti-BIP) against binding immunoglobulin protein (BIP), an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) chaperone with immune modulator and anti-apoptotic effects in Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) patients. Material and Method: We included sixty-two autoimmune thyroiditis patients, 20 with euthyroid autoimmune thyroiditis, 27 with subclinical hypothyroidism and 15 with hypothyroid, and a control group of 37 healthy subjects. Results: No statistically significant difference was determined in anti-BIP levels among the HT subgroups or in comparison with the control group (p= 0.889). Discussion: Although BIP activation has been shown in vitro in thyroid cells, no difference was determined in our study in anti-BIP levels between the HT patient subgroups and the control group. This suggests that antibodies developing against BIP through apoptosis and/or T cell response are either not related to HT or at levels that cannot be determined by measuring serum.