Immunogenetic analysis of spontaneous autoimmune thyroiditis of obese strain chickens.

A variety of immunological, endocrinological, and virological abnormalities have been implicated in the etiopathogenesis of spontaneous autoimmune thyroiditis (SAT) of Obese strain (OS) chickens, e.g., a general T cell hyperreactivity, an increased uptake of iodine into the thyroid gland, a diminution of the glucocorticoid tonus, and an OS-specific endogenous virus. In crosses of the close-bred OS B15/B15 subline with the inbred normal CB B12/B12 strain we have studied the mode of inheritance of these aberrations and their putative association with SAT. The results indicate that none of these OS-specific characteristics alone is an absolute prerequisite for the development of thyroid infiltration, which appears to be governed by one autosomal recessive gene.