Iodine induced alteration in immunological and biochemical properties of thyroglobulin

The influence of iodine-iodide solution on the biochemical and immunological properties of human thyroglobulin (hTg) were studied. Human Tg preincubated with the iodine-iodide solution is split to small molecular mass fragments after disulphide bridge reduction with dithiothreitol. The peptide bond cleavage by iodine pretreatment and reduction is possibly linked with the coupling reaction of diiodotyrosyl residues. Pretreatment of hTg with iodine-iodide solution at 1-10 microM decreased the binding of autoantibodies to hTg. The iodine-iodide induced inactivation of hTg autoepitopes is pH dependent and is possibly caused by iodination of tyrosyl residues present in the epitope structure.