The effect of intervention manner on the development of graves' disease in animal model

Animal models occupy an irreplaceable position for investigating the pathogenesis and treatment of autoimmune diseases. Although different laboratories have adopted adenovirus expressing human TSHR A-subunit (Ad- TSHR289) to induce a Graves' disease (GD) animal model, intervention manners are substantially different. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the time and frequency of administration of Ad-TSHR289 on the development of a Graves' disease animal model. Forty-five Female BALB/c mice were injected with Ad-TSHR289 or control Ad-lacz twice (5w) or thrice (10w) at three-weekly intervals. Blood and thyroid glands were obtained 2 wk or 4 wk after injection. Our data showed that all of the mice injected with Ad-TSHR289 had significantly higher TRAb compared with the control group. Fifty-six percent (9/16) of 5w- and 75% (9/12) of 10w-model group mice became hyperthyroid as judged by serum T4 levels. The consistency between serum T4 levels and histological changes of thyroid was 50% in 5w- and 100% in 10w-model group. The 10 week intervention is thus better than 5 week to induce a GD animal model for higher incidence and consistency, suggesting that intervention time and frequency are two important factors affecting the development of a GD animal model induced by Ad-TSHR289.