Endocrine Abstracts

Graves orbitopathy (GO) or thyroid eye disease (TED) is an inflammatory orbitopathy most commonly associated with hyperthyroid autoimmune thyroid disease (Graves’ disease). Most patients have TSHR autoantibodies (TRAb) in their blood. They usually have a stimulating effect and cause hyperthyroidism. About half of the patients also show more or less pronounced eye symptoms. Factors, which are significantly associated with the occurrence of clinically overt orbitopathy incl...

Since the surgical techniques of orbital decompression have changed considerably due to endoscopic techniques, piezosurgery and navigation indication for orbital decompression have expanded. There two real emergency indications: optic nerve compression (DON) and corneal ulceration. In DON patients decompression is performed if no stable remission can be achieved after two weeks of high dose i.v. steroids. In these patients the medial wall should always be included in the surgi...

The diagnosis of TED is not always obvious and its management can be a challenging. Diagnosis as well as treatment should be performed in a multidisciplinary setting. Decision on treatment is based on a careful assessment of ophthalmological symptoms and the evaluation of the clinical activity of the disease using the clinical activity score. TED is classified into mild, moderate and sight threatening disease. An active inflammatory disease stage is followed by an inactive sta...

Introduction: The inflammatory eye disease Graves’ orbitopathy (GO) is the main complication of Graves’ disease in patients. In previous studies we have shown that hypoxia and HIF-1 dependent pathways could play an important role in the pathogenic process of GO. Hypoxia is known to attract inflammatory cells and therefore maintains inflammation and recruitment of immune cells like macrophages (MQ). However, few is known about the specific contribution of MQ to the pr...

As known, an imbalance of the gut microbiota is associated with a higher risk for autoimmune diseases. Moreover the increased rates of autoimmunity reported in urban residential areas worldwide suggest a possible influence of diet. We report on the antibody response to food antigens in GD patients. Since 10% of celiac patients develop an autoimmune thyreopathy we focused on gliadin (DGP), transglutaminases (tTG) and 40 other food antigens (FA). Commercially available ELISA ass...

Graves’ Disease (GD) affects about 2% of the population in the UK, with female predominance. A proportion of GD patients (5–50%) develop orbitopathy (GO), which is characterized by tissue remodeling in the orbit leading to protrusion of the eye (proptosis). Blood biomarkers associated with GD or GO could be useful diagnostic or prognostic tools for researchers and clinicians. Within the framework of INDIGO IAPP-612116 (Investigation of Novel biomarkers and Definition...

Study objective: We investigated the effect of linsitinib, a dual small-molecule kinase inhibitor of the insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) and the Insulin receptor (IR), on Graves’ Disease and thyroid eye disease. Graves‘ disease (GD), also known as ‘Basedow’s disease‘, is the most common cause for hyperthyroidism, typically presenting in patients between 40-60 years. GD is an autoimmune condition of the thyroid which is caused by autoanti...