Anti-thyroglobulin antibodies in differentiated thyroid carcinoma patients: Study of the clinical and biological parameters

Objectives. - Detection of thyroglobulin in serum is of major clinical importance. The current assay techniques do not have all the qualifications which make the results of thyroglobulin difficult to interpret. The major problem is the autoantibody thyroglobulin (TgAb) interference. They induce an underestimation of thyroglobulin concentrations in the immunometric methods. We report in this study. the clinical and biological parameters of anti-thyroglobulin antibodies of patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma. Patients and methods. - A total of 246 patients with thyroid carcinomas were delicately selected from 2005 to 2012 in the nuclear medicine service of Tlemcen University hospital. Plasma thyroid stimulating hormone, thyroglobulin and anti-thyroglobulin antibodies were measured on Elecsys with the standardised Immunoradiometric assay. Results. - We noticed that there is a rapid increase in the annual number of cases of thyroid carcinoma detected since 2007 with a much higher incidence in women. The rate of anti-thyroglobulin antibody interference reached 20.40%. The distribution of positive anti-thyroglobulin antibodies is not related to age or sex. Conclusion. - It is recommended to systematically measure anti-thyroglobulin antibodies, in parallel with the determination of thyroglobulin, using a sensitive method. (C) 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.