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

Table 2

Baseline characteristics of subjects with thyroid fine-needle aspiration samples.

	nAITD	GD	HT	value
Number	22	35	40	—
Age (year)	41 (30, 50)	34 (26, 46)	36 (27, 46)	0.3518
Female (%)	15 (68.2)	26 (74.3)	34 (85.0)	0.2757
Duration (months)	1 (0, 8)	1 (0, 12)	1 (0, 5)	0.4226
Medication (%)	—	18 (51.4)	10 (25.0)	0.0305
Dosage				—
Methimazole (mg)	—	20 (15, 30)	—	—
Levothyroxine (μg)	—	—	25 (25, 50)	—
FT3 (pmol/L)	4.85 (4.60, 5.14)	17.45 (10.70, 30.75)^a	4.85 (4.17, 5.89)^b	<0.0001
FT4 (pmol/L)	16.02 (15.01, 17.28)	46.88 (35.83, 77.51)^a	15.42 (12.02, 20.69)^b	<0.0001
TSH (mIU/L)	1.940 (1.268, 2.315)	0.005 (0.005, 0.006)^a	2.845 (0.416, 8.310)^b	<0.0001
TPOAb (IU/mL)	12.90 (10.30, 18.00)	280.90 (107.95, 571.20)^a	154.40 (31.60, 434.43)^a	<0.0001
TgAb (IU/mL)	12.25 (10.00, 18.35)	265.80 (40.08, 449.53)^a	380.90 (252.85, 580.85)^a	<0.0001
TRAb (IU/L)	0.31 (0.30, 0.80)	6.14 (2.89, 17.31)^a	0.55 (0.25, 1.31)^c	<0.0001

Data are presented as the number (%) or median (P25, P75). nAITD: nonautoimmune thyroid disease; 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 nAITD control subjects . ^bCompared with Graves’ disease subjects . ^cCompared with Graves’ disease subjects .