The Frequency of Intrathyroidal Follicular Helper T Cells Varies with the Progression of Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis

Table 1

Baseline characteristics of subjects with peripheral blood samples.

	Healthy controls	GD	HT	value
Number	40	40	40	—
Age (year)	31 (27, 37)	35 (26, 48)	42 (29, 51)	0.1207
Female (%)	26 (65.0)	32 (80.0)	34 (85.0)	0.0887
Duration (months)	—	4 (0, 57)	0 (0, 11)	0.0102
Medication (%)	—	17 (42.5)	20 (50.0)	0.6541
Dosage
Methimazole (mg)	—	13 (8, 15)	—	—
Levothyroxine (μg)	—	—	50 (25, 50)	—
FT3 (pmol/L)	4.87 (4.18, 5.27)	14.21 (6.31, 23.99)^a	4.57 (4.18, 5.01)^c	<0.0001
FT4 (pmol/L)	17.65 (15.73, 19.18)	42.35 (22.63, 69.34)^a	15.93 (13.68, 18.25)^c	<0.0001
TSH (mIU/L)	2.210 (1.220, 3.173)	0.005 (0.005, 0.005)^a	2.810 (1.785, 5.853)^c	<0.0001
TPOAb (IU/mL)	11.55 (8.38, 15.10)	244.15 (30.53, 502.45)^a	138.00 (26.48, 454.80)^a	<0.0001
TgAb (IU/mL)	16.30 (13.78, 19.05)	94.35 (11.38, 408.35)^b	300.90 (96.10, 854.30)^a,d	<0.0001
TRAb (IU/L)	0.80 (0.80, 0.80)	9.02 (5.53, 17.75)^a	0.58 (0.30, 1.19)^c	<0.0001

Data are presented as the number (%) or median (P25, P75). GD: Graves’ disease; HT: Hashimoto’s thyroiditis; FT3: free T3; FT4: free T4; TSH: thyroid-stimulating hormone; TGAb: thyroglobulin antibody; TPOAb: thyroid peroxidase antibodies; TRAb: thyrotropin receptor antibody. ^aCompared with healthy control subjects . ^bCompared with healthy control subjects . ^cCompared with Graves’ disease subjects . ^dCompared with Graves’ disease subjects .