Inflammatory Immune Markers Associated With Thyroid Peroxidase Autoantibodies in Children Diagnosed With Both Type 1 Diabetes and Celiac Disease

Autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) is associated with other autoimmune endocrine diseases such as type 1 diabetes (T1D) and celiac disease (CeD). Thyroid peroxidase autoantibodies (TPOA) are biomarkers of AITD but may also occur in patients with other autoimmune diseases. We examined cross-sectional correlations between TPOA and an array of immune markers in a cohort of 90 children with exclusively T1D (n = 27), CeD (n = 16) or a combination of these two diseases (n = 18), compared to a reference group of children without these diagnoses (n = 29). Children with exclusively T1D or T1D in combination with CeD had higher levels of TPOA with an overrepresentation among girls. The correlations between immune markers and TPOA were distinctly different between all study groups. In children with T1D, TPOA correlated mainly with the T helper 1 associated IFN-γ and pro-inflammatory IL-1β. In contrast, in children with combined diagnoses, TPOA was correlated with pro-inflammatory MCP-1, the acute phase proteins ferritin, fibrinogen, and serum albumin A, and adipocytokines resistin and visfatin. Children with exclusively CeD did not show the same strong association between immune markers and TPOA. In conclusion, TPOA positivity was mainly detected in patients with T1D and female sex. Several inflammatory markers correlated with TPOA, indicating a relation to autoimmune parameters in children with T1D, CeD or both, but preceding symptoms AITD.