TPO and autoimmune thyroid disease: Pacini et al (1998) reported that post-Chernobyl Belarus thyroid carcinomas were frequently associated with ‘thyroid autoimmunity’. Thyroid lymphocyte infiltration and circulating anti-TPO antibodies, in fact, were consistently detected in Belarus patients with respect to the controls (Pacini et al, 1998). Moreover, oncocytic changes of thyroid cells have been reported among the late chronic thyroid alterations observed after Chernobyl disaster, with a frequency ranging from 17 to 42% (Nikiforov and Gnepp, 1999).