Promoter methylation and expression of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 gene in blood of autoimmune thyroiditis patients

Growing data supported that epigenetic modifications, including altered DNA methylation have a potential role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD). In the present study we aimed to investigate the methylation status of ICAM - 1 gene promoter in patients with AITD. Forty patients with Graves’ disease (GD), 40 patients with Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT) and 40 normal controls were included. DNA extraction from blood samples was done to analyze the ICAM - 1 methylation status using methylation-specific PCR method. RNA was also extracted to determine the ICAM - 1 expression values by real time PCR. We found that the differences in the frequency of ICAM - 1 methylation status between GD or HT and healthy individuals were statistically significant (p = 0.04, 0.018 respectively) whereas there was no significant difference between GD and HT patients (p > 0.05). There was a correlation between decreased ICAM - 1 methylation and exophthalmos (p = 0.01) and the high TSI level (p