TSHR and autoimmune thyroid disease: Monoclonal antibodies to the TSHR hinge region, isolated from the blood serum of animals with experimental autoimmune thyroiditis, stimulated TSHR, increased the level of cAMP in thyrocytes, activated the 3-phosphoinositide pathway, the MAPK cascade, and different isoforms of protein kinase C, and also increased the activity of the pro-inflammatory factor NF-kB [367].