Expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) on thyroid epithelial cells in Hashimoto's thyroiditis but not in Graves' disease or papillary thyroid cancer.

In order to study the possible role of antigen-independent adhesion systems in thyroid autoimmunity, we evaluated by indirect immunofluorescence the expression of lymphocyte functional antigen-1 (LFA-1) and its ligand ICAM-1 on mononuclear cell infiltrates (when present) and thyroid follicular cells of four patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis, 30 with Graves' disease, five with papillary cancer, two with follicular adenoma, and two normal thyroid specimens. The expression of MHC class I and class II antigens was also evaluated. Most mononuclear infiltrates were LFA-1 positive, as expected. A positivity for ICAM-1 on follicular cells was observed in three out of four Hashimoto's thyroiditis specimens; such a phenomenon was totally absent in Graves' disease or any other pathological condition, or in normal tissue. MHC class II expression on thyrocytes was observed in all the patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis, in 27 out of 30 with Graves' disease and in three out of five papillary cancer specimens.