Gastric parietal cell and thyroid autoantibodies in patients with atrophic glossitis

• Main Authors: Chun-Pin Chiang, Julia Yu-Fong Chang, Yi-Ping Wang, Yu-Hsueh Wu, Yang-Che Wu, Andy Sun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2019-06-01
• Series: Journal of the Formosan Medical Association
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092966461930049X

Background/Purpose: Gastric parietal cell antibody (GPCA), thyroglobulin antibody (TGA), and thyroid microsomal antibody (TMA) are organ-specific autoantibodies. This study mainly assessed the frequencies of presence of serum GPCA, TGA, and TMA in atrophic glossitis (AG) patients. Methods: Serum GPCA, TGA, and TMA levels were measured in 1064 AG patients and in 532 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects. Results: We found that 26.7%, 28.4%, and 29.8% of 1064 AG patients and 2.3%, 2.1%, and 2.6% of 532 healthy control subjects had the serum GPCA, TGA, and TMA positivities, respectively. AG patients had a significantly higher frequency of GPCA, TGA, or TMA positivity than healthy control subjects (all P-values < 0.001). We also found that 67 (6.3%), 181 (17.0%), and 340 (32.0%) AG patients and 3 (0.6%), 10 (1.9%), and 8 (1.5%) healthy control subjects had the presence of three (GPCA + TGA + TMA), two (GPCA + TGA, GPCA + TMA, or TGA + TMA), or one (GPCA only, TGA only, or TMA only) organ-specific autoantibody in their sera, respectively. Of 373 TGA/TMA-positive AG patients whose serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels were measured, 78.6%, 8.0%, and 13.4% of these TGA/TMA-positive AG patients had normal, lower, and higher serum TSH levels, respectively. Conclusion: Approximately 55.3% of 1064 AG patients have serum GPCA/TGA/TMA positivity. Because part of GPCA-positive AG patients may develop pernicious anemia, autoimmune atrophic gastritis, and gastric carcinoma, and part of TGA/TMA-positive AG patients may have thyroid dysfunction such as hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism, these autoantibody-positive AG patients should be referred to medical doctors for further management. Keywords: Atrophic glossitis, Gastric parietal cell antibody, Thyroglobulin antibody, Thyroid microsomal antibody