Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Autoantibodies (aAB) are characteristic of autoimmune diseases, but may also be found in apparently healthy individuals and precede pathological symptoms. We have recently reported on autoantibodies against the IGF1-receptor (IGF1R-aAB) in control subjects and patients with Graves’ disease (1). The isolated aAB were able to immunoprecipitate the recombinant autoantigen and antagonized IGF1 signaling in vitro. Given the structural similarities betwee...

The quantification of TSH from a serum or plasma sample constitutes the cornerstone of assessing the thyroid axis in the clinical routine. In addition, T4 and/or T3 levels may be determined to diagnose pathological conditions. However, these data do not necessarily reflect the local action of thyroid hormone in the target tissues and are sensitive to distortion, as best known from pregnancy when chorionic gonadotropin disturbs the regular feedback control. Recently, we identif...

Objective: Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) has a crucial role in growth and metabolism. A specifically designed autoantibody (aAb) assay against the IGF1 receptor (IGF1R-aAb) is able to detect IGF1R-aAb in serum. As the IGF1R has shown involvement in many functional pathologies (e.g. in the Laron syndrome), we aimed to investigate the role of IGF1R-aAb in a large population-based cohort of middle-aged volunteers and their potential effects on anthropometric, osteological a...