How thyrocyte destruction is induced in autoimmune thyroiditis?
Thyrocytes from Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) glands, but not from nonautoimmune thyroids, expressed Fas (CD95), therefore autonomous interaction between thyrocyte Fas (CD95) and FasL (CD95L) has been proposed as a major mechanism of thyrocyte depletion in HT. Moreover, experimental evidence has showed that Infiltrating T Lymphocytes (ITLs) do not express significant amounts of FasL, suggesting that ITLs are not directly involved in thyrocyte destruction.