Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Primary endocrine failure in β-Thal is caused by iron overload in epithelial cells and in interstitial macrophages. Autoimmune phenomena are not believed to play any significant role, although iron overload, through non-specific inflammatory process, could trigger autoimmunity, as recently suggested for the pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus in β-Thal patients.Purpose: We investigated thyroid function and anti-thyroid autoantibodie...