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Role of EBV in autoimmune thyroid diseases

Gingergrrl

Senior Member
Messages
16,171
My daughter also had severe Mono/EBV and the next year was diagnosed with Graves disease.

Tammy, did your daughter's doctor think the two were related (her Mono/EBV and Graves)? When I was diagnosed with Hashi's, I was told that it was the "gateway" toward getting multiple autoimmune conditions and nothing could have been more true in my case. All of my doctors feel that the EBV shifted into severe autoimmunity (in my case).
 

Tammy

Senior Member
Messages
2,181
Location
New Mexico
Tammy, did your daughter's doctor think the two were related (her Mono/EBV and Graves)? When I was diagnosed with Hashi's, I was told that it was the "gateway" toward getting multiple autoimmune conditions and nothing could have been more true in my case. All of my doctors feel that the EBV shifted into severe autoimmunity (in my case).[/QUOTE

No he didn't link the two. I think the EBV can attack just about anything from organs to glands. Some people get spleenomegaly or hepatomegaly from EBV. My daughter's liver was attacked as her liver enzymes were high. When I think back on it, she started having symptoms of Graves long before she was diagnosed. I don't think it is far fetched to think that the EBV can attack the thyroid................but i doubt many Dr.'s make that link.
 

drob31

Senior Member
Messages
1,487
So let's say EBV reactivates during a stressful period and migrates to your thyroid, as it was next door in your tonsils which is a common place for it to infect. In this state it's able to "hide out" in thyroid tissue while your body desperately trys to attack it, eventually producing antibodies to it's own tissue to get after it.

Does this sound like a plausible hashimotos and or AIT model?
 

Gingergrrl

Senior Member
Messages
16,171
So let's say EBV reactivates during a stressful period and migrates to your thyroid, as it was next door in your tonsils which is a common place for it to infect. In this state it's able to "hide out" in thyroid tissue while your body desperately trys to attack it, eventually producing antibodies to it's own tissue to get after it.

Does this sound like a plausible hashimotos and or AIT model?

This actually makes really sound sense to me that EBV (or other viruses) could migrate and infect the thyroid (either with the initial infection or a re-activation) and then hide out. The body would keep trying to attack the virus until it eventually shifts toward Hashimoto's (and starts attacking the thyroid) which then becomes the gateway to other autoimmune diseases. Forgive my ignorance but is what you proposed a theory or is it actually what is proven to occur?
 

Wally

Senior Member
Messages
1,167
This paper was just released online (3/12/2020) re Hashimoto’s and EBV.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221462372030017X
Study of Epstein–Barr virus serological profile in Egyptian patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis: A case-control study

Abstract

Background

Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) is now considered one of the most prevalent autoimmune diseases. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of different types of EBV antibodies in patients with HT in comparison to healthy controls, and to detect any correlation between EBV serological markers and different laboratory findings in HT patients.

Subjects & methods

This case-control study was conducted on 120 subjects divided into two groups: Sixty patients with HT (patients group), and sixty age and sex matched healthy volunteers (control group). All the participants were subjected to: Thyroid ultrasound, laboratory assessment including: Serum thyroid -stimulating hormone (TSH), free tetraiodothyronine (FT4), free triiodothyronine (FT3), anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (anti-TPO Ab) and anti-thyroglobulin antibody (anti-TG Ab). Four types of EBV antibodies (VCA IgM, VCA IgG, EA IgG, and EBNA-1IgG) were measured in serum using ELISA.

Results

The mean serum levels of EBV VCA IgG and EA IgG were significantly higher in HT patients group in comparison to control group. In euthyroid HT patients, a significant positive correlation was observed between the age and EBV EA IgG. While in hypothyroid HT patients, a significant positive correlation between thyroid isthmus and EBNA-1IgG was observed. A significant negative correlation was found between the serum FT3 and EBNA-1IgG and a significant positive correlation was observed between serum TSH and EBV VCA IgG.

Conclusions
The high serum levels of EBV VCA IgG and EBV EA IgG in patients with HT suggest a possible association between EBV and HT.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221462372030017X
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221462372030017X
 

Wally

Senior Member
Messages
1,167
@Gingergrrl - I try to keep up on all thyroid research etc... because of thyroid issues followed shortly after my visit to Incline Village where I contracted a strange flu like illness. For me EBV, HHV-6, ME/CFS, and thyroid disease have always seemed to define my illness, it was just difficult to find doctors who understood that there could be a connection between the thyroid and a large subset of people with this illness.

A couple of other studies that might be helpful for you to review, if you have not seen these already, 1) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23055929/ (see also - https://hhv-6foundation.org/all/active-hhv-6-found-in-the-autoimmune-thyroiditis-biopsies) and 2) https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/fo...-causes-problems-for-many-with-hypothyroidism.
 
Last edited:

nyanko_the_sane

Because everyday is Caturday...
Messages
655
EBV is the gift that keeps on giving...
80722073_799370553909365_5473947726549135240_n.jpg
 

sometexan84

Senior Member
Messages
1,229
I was diagnosed w/ Hashimoto and Hypothyroidism less than a yr ago. A few months later, tested positive for EBV reactivation.
 

sometexan84

Senior Member
Messages
1,229
In fact, those are 2 of only 3 conditions I've discovered thus far w/ my tests:

  1. Hashimoto - Hypothyroidism
  2. EBV
  3. Psoriasis
 

sometexan84

Senior Member
Messages
1,229
@Learner1

It is also possible that every time the control of EBV diminishes, EBV reactivates and reinfects more cells of different types in different locations of the body, resulting in specific manifestations and progression of disease flares

So, would that help explain why I have 80% energy much of the time, and then periods where I am dead for days at a time?
 

Learner1

Senior Member
Messages
6,305
Location
Pacific Northwest
Could be.

You might find the attached interesting.
 

Attachments

  • EBV chronic infections.pdf
    414.7 KB · Views: 28
  • EBV and autoimmune disease.pdf
    625.8 KB · Views: 22
  • Lerner-antiviral-herpesvirus CFS.pdf
    314.2 KB · Views: 23

nyanko_the_sane

Because everyday is Caturday...
Messages
655
If it is only your thyroid being affected you are lucky. Others are not be so lucky. Some of the conditions linked to EBV include: multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, type 1 diabetes, juvenile idiopathic arthritis and celiac disease.
 
Messages
246

Which enzymes were high, my ALT is high, but my AST is within range yet correlated with the ALT. When ALT is high, AST is in the high range, when ALT is in the high range, AST is mid range. What symptoms of Graves did she have and how's they confirm it? How did they know she had EBV?
 

Learner1

Senior Member
Messages
6,305
Location
Pacific Northwest
Which enzymes were high, my ALT is high, but my AST is within range yet correlated with the ALT. When ALT is high, AST is in the high range, when ALT is in the high range, AST is mid range. What symptoms of Graves did she have and how's they confirm it? How did they know she had EBV?
There are a lot of things that can cause elevated ALT, AST or both.