Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology
Endocrine Abstracts (2016) 41 OC8.4 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.41.OC8.4

ECE2016 Oral Communications Thyroid - Translational (5 abstracts)

Discovering the difference in the tear fluid proteome between Graves’ patients with or without orbitopathy

Cecilie Aas 1, , Ingrid Nordheim 2, , Erik Fink Eriksen 3, , Ellen Charlotte Børnick 2, , Per Medbøe Thorsby 1, & Milaim Pepaj 1,


1Hormone Laboratory, Department of Medical Biochemistry, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; 2Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; 3Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; 4Department of Endocrinology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; 5Department of Ophthalmology, Oslo, Norway.


Background: Graves’ orbitopathy (GO) is a severe organ-specific autoimmune inflammatory ocular complication most often associated with Graves’ disease (GD). Besides the cosmetic problems these patients develop, GO may also cause severe eye complications threatening the vision of the patient. Additionally, GO complicates the treatment of patients with GD, making the identification of Graves patients at risk for eye disease before they develop symptoms a critical step for the clinical handling and quality of life of these patients. The high concentration of proteins in tear fluid makes it an important source for studying potential protein biomarkers for GO. The aim of the present study was to quantitatively compare tear fluid from GD patients with active GO and patients with GD without GO (controls) using untargeted quantitative proteomics based on dimethyl labeling in combination with 2D-LC-MS/MS.

Results: Among the 1212 proteins identified, 16 proteins showed significant alterations in abundance between the two groups. Thus, in the present study we reveal a number of novel dysregulated proteins in GO which may contribute to a better understanding of the disease. In particular, up-regulation of lacrimal gland proteins, suggest involvement of the lacrimal gland in the pathogenesis of GO. It remains to be elucidated whether some of these proteins can be used as markers for patients at risk for developing GO as well as useful indicators for disease activity.

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