Autoimmune serological studies in chronic gastritis and pernicious anaemia

EDITORIAL SYNOPSIS These serological observations provide further support for the concept of autoimmunization as an aetiological factor in these clinico-pathological conditions. This paper describes the incidence of positive serological tests for autoantibodies to gastric mucosal antigen and to thyroglobulin in patients with chronic gastritis, pernicious anaemia, and post- gastrectomy gastritis. The results support the recent concept (British Medical Journal, 1962) that diffuse atrophic gastritis, which is the essential lesion in most cases of pernicious anaemia, may have an autoimmune basis. The findings of an increased incidence of antithyroglobulin antibodies in patients with atrophic gastritis adds further evidence for the suggested association between chronic disease of the stomach and thyroid gland.