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Graves' Disease

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Encyclopedia of Molecular Mechanisms of Disease

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Synonyms

Basedow's disease

Definition and Characteristics

Graves' disease is an autoimmune thyroid disease characterized by biochemical and physiological manifestations of increased levels of thyroid hormones (hyperthyroidism) [1–3]. The clinical definition requires the additional demonstration of diffuse thyroid gland activity by radioiodine scanning or ultrasound. Circulating autoantibodies specific to hyperthyroid Graves' disease behave as thyroid stimulating antibodies, binding to epitopes in the extracellular domain of the thyrotropin (TSH) receptor of thyroid cells and mainly activating adenylate cyclase and the cAMP-protein kinase A and C cascades. These antibodies not only induce thyroid hormone hypersecretion, but also hypertrophy and hyperplasia of the thyroid follicles, resulting in a characteristic diffuse goiter. Graves' disease also affects the eyes (Graves' ophthalmopathy) and, occasionally, the skin (localized dermopathy, or pre-tibial myxedema). The thyroid in Graves'...

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References

  1. Davies TF (2007) Graves' disease. In: Braverman LE, Utiger RD (eds) Werner and Ingbar's the thyroid, 9th ed. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia, PA

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  2. Davies TF, Larsen PR (2007) Thyrotoxicosis. In: Williams' textbook of endocrinology, 10th ed, Chap. 11. Saunders, Philadelphia, PA

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  3. Weetman AP (2000) Graves' disease. N Engl J Med 343:1236–1248

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  4. Tomer Y, Davies TF (2003) Searching for the autoimmune thyroid disease susceptibility genes: from gene mapping to gene function. Endocr Rev 24:694–717

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  5. Stassi et al. (2000) Control of target cell survival in thyroid autoimmunity by T helper cytokines via regulation of apoptotic proteins. Nature Immunol 1:483–488

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Haifa, Israel

    Zaki Kraiem & Yaron Tomer

  2. Division of Endocrinology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Yaron Tomer

  3. Division of Endocrinology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    Terry F. Davies

Authors
  1. Zaki Kraiem
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  2. Yaron Tomer
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  3. Terry F. Davies
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Physiology, University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany

    Florian Lang (Prof.) (Prof.)

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© 2009 Springer-Verlag GmbH Berlin Heidelberg

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Kraiem, Z., Tomer, Y., Davies, T.F. (2009). Graves' Disease. In: Lang, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Molecular Mechanisms of Disease. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29676-8_734

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