Endocrine Abstracts

Background: The Covid-19 pandemic caused by the severe-acute-respiratory-syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) determined millions of deaths worldwide, thus at the end of 2020 a massive vaccination campaign has been launched. SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccines have been associated with several thyroid disorders, especially subacute thyroiditis (SAT), Graves’ disease (GD) and orbitopathy (GO). We studied the occurrence of SAT and GO following SARS-CoV-2 infection or vaccinati...

Introduction: The humanized antibody anti-CD52+ alemtuzumab has been approved since 2014 for the treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Immune reconstitution after alemtuzumab induces thyroid autoimmunity in 34-41% of patients with RRMS, with Graves’ disease (GD) accounting for 63-65% of cases. Graves’ Orbitopathy (GO) may also occur in 13% of patients after alemtuzumab and is scarcely reported. Here we present the first case of alemtuzumab-induc...

Background: Vaccination is a widely adopted measure against the severe-acute-respiratory-syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) causing Covid-19 pandemic. Both SARS-CoV-2 infection and Covid-19 vaccines have been associated with several thyroid disorders. We studied the risk of Graves’ orbitopathy (GO) following Covid-19 vaccination.Methods: The study included 98 consecutive patients (71 females and 27 males, mean-age 50 years) attending our tertiary r...

The anti-CD 20 antibody rituximab (RTX) has been employed in the treatment of several autoimmune diseases and its effect may not involve autoantibody secretion. Preliminary studies have shown that RTX induced improvement of active Graves’ orbitopathy (GO) but caused no change of serum anti-thyroid antibodies in relation to peripheral CD 20+ cells depletion, usually observed at the second week after therapy. A 50-year-old woman with GO predominantly active in the left eye ...

A seasonal occurrence of Graves’ disease (GD) has been reported in previous studies, with a peak of frequency in the warmer half of the year (Ford 1988, 1991, Westphal 1994) or the period of the year with a higher iodine intake (Phillips 1985); other studies (Facciani 2000) have failed to find a different seasonal occurrence of Graves’ orbitopathy (GO). Aim of the present study was to evaluate a possible seasonal difference in the onset of GD and GO in a series of ou...

Aim: The aim of this retrospective study was to assess the efficacy of different doses of rituximab (RTX) in patients with active moderate-severe Graves’ Orbitopathy (GO).Methods: Overall 40 patients, 5 M/35 F; mean age (± S.D.) 58±11 years were treated with RTX; 21 were smokers. The patients received the following treatment: 14 patients (group 1) a single 100 mg dose; 15 patients (group 2) a single 500 mg dose and 11 Patien...

Previous studies have shown that Rituximab (RTX) is effective as a disease modifying drug at doses of 500 mg or 1000×2 mg in active Graves’ orbitopathy (GO). We have conducted a pilot study (EUDRACT 2012-001980-53) in which patients with active moderate-severe GO were treated with a single infusion of low dose RTX (100 mg). Ten patients were enrolled of whom seven completed the study at 52 weeks. Five patients did not respond to a previous treatment with i.v. methylp...

We described a significant clinical response to RTX treatment in patients with active TAO. In order to understand the possible mechanisms of action of RTX, we measured serum concentrations of IL-6 and its soluble receptor (sIL-6R). We treated 10 patients with RTX: 8 women, 2 men aged 31–51 yr with Graves’ disease. We also treated 14 patients with i.v. steroids (IVGC). All had active TAO. In all patients we studied thyroid function, serum autoantibodies and peripheral...

Background and Aims: Graves’ disease (GD) and orbitopathy (GO) are characterised by the presence of pathological anti-thyrotropin receptor antibodies. In thyroid autoimmunity, especially GD and GO, a dysregulation of several T cell subpopulations has been proposed, especially T regulatory (Treg) and T helper 17 (Th17) cells, determining (auto)immunity inhibition and enhancement, respectively. T follicular cells (Tf) within germinal centres (GC: aggregates of lymphocytes w...

Rituximab (RTX) is a monoclonal antibody which binds CD20 antigen and induces B cell depletion. It is not known if its therapeutic effect in autoimmune diseases is mediated by modifications of the humoral immune response, namely the antibody production. Aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of RTX on serum TSH-receptor antibodies, both binding (TBII) and stimulating (TSAb) and on serum antibodies against three orbital antigens, calsequestrin, XIII collagen and th...