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Endocrine Abstracts (2002) 3 P296

BES2002 Poster Presentations Thyroid (34 abstracts)

Pyrimidine and purine metabolism in human leukocytes in autoimmunological thyroid diseases - RNA expression of some enzymes

A Lewinski 1,2 , E Brzezianska 1 , M Karbownik 1,2 , K Zasada 1 , M Migdalska-Sek 1 & D Pastuszak-Lewandoska 2


1Department of Thyroidology, Institute of Endocrinology, Medical University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland; 2Polish Mather's Memorial Hospital - Research Institute, Lodz, Poland.


Increased blood activities of some enzymes, participating in pyrimidine and purine metabolism, were found in blood fractions of patients suffering from autoimmunological thyroid diseases (AITD), i.e., Graves' or Hashimoto's disease. The aim of the study was to estimate the expression of RNA specific for the enzymes in question. An approval of the Ethical Committee of the Medical University of Lodz has been obtained. The expression of the following enzymes was estimated in human blood leukocytes: deoxycytidine (dCK), thymidine kinase (TK1), and adenosine deaminase 3, 4, and 5 (ADA3, ADA4, and ADA5). Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and densitometry were employed for RNA expression measurements. The levels of RNA expression of all the examined enzymes in leukocytes from patients with either Graves' or Hashimoto's disease were significantly higher than those in controls; above a 2-fold increase of RNA expression of TK1, ADA4, and ADA5 was observed. It is concluded that the expression of RNA, specific for some enzymes participating in purine and pyrimidyne metabolism in blood leukocytes, is increased in the leukocytes of patients with AITD. Further studies are required to elucidate the significance of the above findings.

Volume 3

21st Joint Meeting of the British Endocrine Societies

British Endocrine Societies 

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