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Introduction: Increased expression of genes, encoding for some enzymes, participating in pyrimidine and purine salvage pathways, were found in blood fractions of patients with different autoimmune diseases. The aim of the study was estimation of the activities of enzymes, participating in purine and pyrimidine salvage pathways, namely thymidine kinase 1 (TK1; EC 2.7.1.21) and deoxycytidine kinase (dCK, EC 3.7.1.74), in blood serum and lymphocytes, collected from patients with thyroid autoimmune diseases (AITD), i.e., Graves’ or Hashimoto’s disease. Materials and methods: The activities of TK1 and dCK in blood serum and lymphocytes from patients with Graves’ or Hashimoto’s disease were measured by ascending chromatography and expressed as the amounts of radioactive reaction products of thymidine (for TK1) or deoxyguanosine (for dCK) phosphorylation. Results: A tendency towards increased TK1 activity was found in blood serum and in blood lymphocytes from patients with AITD. dCK activity in blood serum from patients with AITD was significantly higher than inhealthy subjects; additionally, dCKactivityin serum from patients with Graves’disease was significantly higher than that from patients with Hashimoto’s disease. dCK activity in lymphocytes from patients with AITD did not differ significantly from that inhealthy subjects. A positive correlation was observed between TK1 activity and dCK activity in blood serum from patients with Graves’ disease. Conclusion: Measurements of activities of purine and pyrimidyne salvage enzymes may help explain the mechanisms of autoimmune diseases and could be of significance in the diagnostic sand/or of monitoring of AITD. (Clin. Exp. Med. Lett. 2006; 47(1):39-44)

Keywords: Thymidine Kinase, Deoxycytidine Kinase, Hashimoto’s disease, Graves’ disease