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Causes
By Mayo Clinic staff
Doctors don't know what causes Graves' disease. Normally, your immune system uses naturally occurring proteins (antibodies) and white blood cells (lymphocytes) to help eliminate viruses, bacteria and foreign substances (antigens) that invade your body.
In Graves' disease, your immune system mistakenly attacks your thyroid gland, but instead of destroying the gland, an antibody called thyrotropin receptor antibody (TRAb) stimulates the thyroid to make excessive amounts of thyroid hormone.
Your thyroid is part of your endocrine system, which includes a collection of glands and tissues that produce hormones. These chemical messengers coordinate many of your body's activities, from digestion to metabolism to reproduction. Thyroxine — a hormone produced by the thyroid — affects many body systems and is involved in controlling your metabolic rate.
- Graves' disease. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. http://www.endocrine.niddk.nih.gov/pubs/graves/Graves.pdf. Accessed April 23, 2009.
- Hyperthyroidism. American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. http://www.aace.com/pub/thyroidbrochures/pdfs/Hyperthyroidism.pdf. Accessed April 23, 2009.
- Nyirenda MJ, et al. Thyroid-stimulating hormone-receptor antibody and thyroid hormone concentrations in smokers vs. nonsmokers with Graves' disease treated with carbimazole. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2009;301:162.
- Cawood TJ, et al. Smoking and thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy: A novel explanation of the biological link. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2007;92:59.
- Davies TF. Pathogenesis of Graves' disease. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 27, 2009.
- Brent GA. Graves' disease. New England Journal of Medicine. 2008;358:2594.
- Rubin DI. Neurologic manifestations of hyperthyroidism and Graves' disease. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 27, 2009.
- Davies TF. Treatment of Graves' ophthalmopathy (orbitopathy). http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed April 27, 2009.
- Nippoldt TB (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. May 13, 2009.
- Propylthiouracil-induced liver failure. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Accessed June 17, 2009.
