Endocrine Abstracts

Despite an accurate management, in about 20% of hypothyroid patients showing an increased need for oral levothyroxine (LT4), the leading cause of treatment refractoriness remains unknown. Some studies hypothesized the relationship between gut microbiota composition and thyroid homeostasis, but the possible involvement of microflora in the efficacy of LT4 treatment has not been evaluated yet, and this represents the aim of our study. We examined the faecal microflora compositio...

Recent reports have proven gastric pH as key for both dissolution and bioavailability of oral thyroxine. This is clinically relevant in patients with gastric disorders to tailor an individualized treatment. In vitro, the softgel preparation of thyroxine possess a superior dissolution profile at increasing pH than the tablet T4. No data are available analyzing the correlation between the gastric pH and the softgel T4 performance in vivo and the present study i...

Abstract: Gastrointestinal disorders may impair oral thyroxine (T4) absorption by either affecting the tablet dissolution or adsorbing the hormone in the first tract of intestinal lumen. Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory disease whose interference with oral T4 treatment has been suggested but no evidence have been presented so far. This study was aimed at examining the presence of UC and its possible interference in the pharmacologic thyroid homeostasis, in a large co...

Background: Skeletal muscle is known to be a target of THs, regulating oxygen consumption, fiber composition, calcium mobilization and glucose uptake. However, a possible role for THs in muscle homeostasis and cellular metabolism under pathological has never been investigated. Food deprivation induces skeletal muscle atrophy, causing metabolic changes, and forcing the tissue to utilize fatty acid as the main oxidation substrate. Aim of this project was to understand whether T3...

Increasing evidence suggests a relevant role for thyroid gland in maintaining hypophysis-thyroid homeostasis even in patients treated with oral thyroxine. Aim of the study was to compare the daily dose of thyroxine required to attain subnormal serum TSH levels in patients with nontoxic goitre before and following total thyroidectomy. To address this question we have studied: a) 15 patients (8 women and 7 men; median age=53 years) with nontoxic goitre (NTG) and no evidence of a...

Repeated pregnancy loss (RPL), defined as two or more spontaneous abortions, may be associated with autoimmune thyroiditis (AT), either isolated or associated with polyautoimmune disorders (PD), which include antiphospholipid syndrome. An increased occurrence of RPL has been reported in patients with isolated AT but very few data are available on the influence of concurrent auto-aggressive disorders on RPL and this represented the aim of our study. A cohort of 1765 consecutive...

Objective: Intestinal barrier (IB) is one of the wider human body surface, whose integrity allows the uptake of nutrients also preserving from the entrance of harmful compounds. An increased permeability of IB, known as “leaky gut”, has been demonstrated in patients with intestinal inflammatory and/or autoimmune disorders as well as in patients with autoimmune diseases involving organs far from the intestine, as in patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT). The...

Objectives: Human CD3+CD20+ T cells represents 3-5% of circulating T cells and may be detected in all lymphatic organs and in the cerebrospinal fluid. In healthy individuals CD3+CD20+ T cells have been shown to produce higher levels of IL-17A and/or IFN-γ than those of CD3+CD20- T cells. Some reports described the role of CD3+CD20+ T cells in autoimmune disorders such as multiple scler...

Objectives: Variations of gut microbiota composition have been described in patients with different thyroid disorders. The site of oral levothyroxine (T4) absorption is represented by the small intestine and it has been demonstrated that some bacterial strains possess enzymatic activity that may affect iodothyronine deconjugation, process probably involved in thyroid hormone enterohepatic recycling. The relationship between gut microflora composition and oral T4 requirement ha...

The presence and the role of CD20+ T cells in humans has been described in autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. In healthy subjects, CD3+CD20+ T cells are detected in all lymphatic organs and in the cerebrospinal fluid and represent about 5% of circulating T cells. Some reports described their production of high levels of IL-17A and/or IFN-γ. This study was aimed at investigating the behavior of CD3<sup...