What causes Graves' disease?

Grave's disease is due to the hypersecretion of the thyroid gland. Graves’ disease is named for the doctor Robert J. Graves who first described it in a patient in 1835. Graves’ disease is a type of autoimmune problem that causes the thyroid gland to produce too much thyroid hormone, which results in hyperthyroidism. In Graves’ disease, the immune system creates antibodies that cause the thyroid to grow and make more thyroid hormone than the body needs. These antibodies are called thyroid-stimulating immunoglobulins.