In our own studies on the Amsterdam AITD cohort (euthyroid females with at least one first or second degree relative with a documented autoimmune hyper- or hypothyroidism) TPO-Ab positivity at the start of the study also represented a higher risk to develop overt hypothyroidism in a follow-up of 5 years [8, 9]. The gene discussed is TPO; the disease is hypothyroidism.