Endocrine Abstracts

The 21-hydroxylase (21OH) gene, CYP21A2, encodes the 21OH steroidogenic enzyme which is the primary autoantigen in autoimmune Addison’s disease (AAD). It is located on chromosome 6p21, in a copy number repeat termed RCCX, adjacent to the 21OH pseudogene (CYP21A1P). CYP21A1P is highly homologous to CYP21A2 but contains an 8 bp deletion in exon 3 (707-714delGAGACTAC) which results in a frameshift. The predicted protein product is...

Background: Autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 1 (APS1) is a disorder caused by mutations of the autoimmune regulator (AIRE) gene, that controls central tolerance. Tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4)-dependent hydroxylases, consisting of tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH1 and TPH2), tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) are commonly targeted autoantigens. Nevertheless, detailed characterization of their epitopes and independent roles of TPH isoforms has ...

Autoimmune Addison’s disease (AAD) results from the immune mediated selective destruction of adrenal steroid hormone-secreting cells. Autoantibodies (Abs) against 21-hydroxylase (21OH) are diagnostic present in 85–90% newly diagnosed patients. Its genetic susceptibility is conferred by human leukocyte antigen (HLA) DQ2 and DQ8. In many patients autoimmunity extends forming the autoimmune polyglandular syndrome type 2 (APS-2). The aim of this study was to test, whethe...

Due to the rarity of autoimmune Addison’s disease (AAD), it has proved difficult to gather large case cohorts for genetic studies. Linkage analysis offers a powerful means of identifying genetic susceptibility loci but has never been applied to AAD because of the scarcity of families containing ≥2 affected individuals. We collected DNA from 23 such families to perform the first linkage study in AAD.We genotyped 117 samples (50 cases, 67 contro...

Autoimmune Addison’s disease (AAD) is a rare, highly heritable endocrinopathy with an estimated λsibling (ratio of risk to a sibling vs the unrelated background population) of 160–210. The majority of the genetic risk to AAD has yet to be accounted for. We have used a tag-SNP approach to seek association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the GATA3 gene and autoimmune Addison’s disease (AAD). 2001 AAD cases and 1898 controls were included in ...