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Autoantibodies to thyroglobulin in blood
Medical expert of the article
Last reviewed: 05.07.2025
Reference values (norm) for the concentration of autoantibodies to thyroglobulin in blood serum are 0-51 IU/ml.
Serum thyroglobulin autoantibodies are antibodies to the precursor of thyroid hormones. They bind thyroglobulin, disrupting hormone synthesis and causing hypothyroidism.
Thyroglobulin antibodies are measured to assess the severity of autoimmune reactions in thyroid diseases. Increased levels are found in most cases of Hashimoto's thyroiditis, Graves' disease and idiopathic myxedema. The so-called "cutoff" line of 70 IU/ml is important in assessing the test results. It is used to differentiate between euthyroid patients and patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and Graves' disease. In patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and Graves' disease, thyroglobulin antibody levels of over 70 IU/ml are found in 85% and 62% of patients, respectively. The specificity of this cutoff for these diseases is 97%. In 55-85% of patients with autoimmune thyroiditis, the concentration of thyroglobulin antibodies in the blood increases to 600 IU/ml or more. The absence of antibodies to thyroglobulin in patients with autoimmune thyroiditis is due either to the presence of thyroglobulin-antibody complexes in the blood that do not react with thyroglobulin, or to the formation of antibodies to another antigen.
Antibodies to thyroglobulin are detected in patients with thyroid cancer (in 45% of cases) in the presence of regional metastases, pernicious anemia (in 50%), and systemic lupus erythematosus (in 20% of cases).