Mechanism and significance of abnormal blood level of β₂-microglobulin in patients with Graves’ disease

Abstract

The blood-level of β₂-microglobulin (β₂-mG) in patients with Graves disease is generally elevated, varying with the condition of the patients. After treatment with Tapazole, the blood level of β₂-mG is gradually lowered to normal range with improvement of the disease. In this study the mechanism and significance of such variations of β₂-mG in Graves disease patients were investigated by observing suppressor T-lymphocyte function (expressed as suppression index, SI). At the same time the blood levels of β₂-mG of the same subjects were determined. It was found that the quantitative variation of the blood β₂-mG was related to the condition of patients as well as to the status of immunologic system. The high level of blood β₂-mG was probably due to the dysfunction of suppressor T-lymphocytes. The measurement of blood β₂-mG was much easier than that of SI, and possibly, the former could be used instead of the latter to show the function of cell-mediated immunity in patients with Graves disease.

Keywords

β₂-microglobulin / Graves’ disease / suppressor T-lymphocyte / autoimmune disease / peripheral blood mononuclear cell

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