Endocrine Abstracts

PTPN22, encodes lymphoid tyrosine phosphatise (LYP), an important inhibitor of T lymphocyte activation and has been associated with numerous autoimmune diseases including type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and Graves’ disease (GD). Consistent association has been reported between disease and a non-synonymous SNP +1858 C>T (rs2476601) encoding an Arginine to Tryptophan substitution at amino acid 620 of LYP. Our group was the first to show strong evidence of ...

Recent genome wide screens performed by the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium using 500k single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) genotyping arrays have detected several novel susceptibility loci for the common autoimmune diseases (AIDs): Crohn’s disease (CD), type 1 diabetes (T1D) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). PTPN2, which encodes TCPTP an important negative regulator of inflammation, is one such locus. The rs2542151 SNP in PTPN2 was shown to be highly a...

Autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD), Graves’ disease (GD) and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) are common, but there is limited information on the prevalence of co-existing auto-immune diseases (AID). We prospectively collected 3309 patients with AITD and determined prevalences of other autoimmune diseases in index cases and relatives. Overall, 10.3% of 2806 GD patients and 18.1% of 503 HT subjects reported a co-existing AID. Rheumatoid arthritis was the commonest AID in ...

In addition to the HLA gene region, two further genes involved in the inhibition of T cell signalling, CTLA-4 and PTPN22, have been consistently associated with autoimmune disease (AID), highlighting the important role played by molecules in this pathway in AID susceptibility. The Programmed Cell Death 1 gene (PDCD1) on chromosome 2q37.3 encodes PD-1 which is involved in providing a negative signal to activated T cells. Large case-control studies have show...

Protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) such as PTPN22, that encodes lymphoid tyrosine phosphatase (LYP), are important regulators of cell signalling. LYP, through interaction with various accessory molecules including Grb2 and Csk kinase, has been shown to be particularly important in regulating signal transduction from the T cell receptor. The identification of PTPN22 as a susceptibility locus for Graves’ disease (GD) led us to hypothesise that other PTPs may...

Recently, linkage between chromosome 1q23 and rheumatoid arthritis within the Japanese population has been narrowed down to association of four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), fcrl3_3, fcrl3_4, fcrl3_5 and fcrl3_6, within FCRL3, a known regulator of B cell signalling. Of these four SNPs, fcrl3_3 was shown to disrupt FCRL3 expression on B cells, suggesting a potential etiological role. Association of fcrl3_3 was also replicated in a Japanese Graves’ disease ...

Genetic variants of the HLA class II region (DRB1, DQB1 and DQA1) and CTLA-4 contribute to susceptibility to Graves' disease (GD). Whilst disease susceptibility has been mapped to a non-coding 6.1kb 3' region of CTLA-4, the primary aetiological variants within the HLA class II region remain unknown. The aims of this study were (i) determine which of the three HLA class II loci account for the primary association with GD and (ii) examine disea...

BackgroundPropylthiouracil treatment of Graves' disease has been postulated to provoke anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis, particularly myeloperoxidase (MPO)-ANCA, however it is unclear whether the abnormal immune environment of autoimmine thyroid disease influences the development of ANCA.MethodsThe occurrence of ANCA and the relationship to thionamide treatment was investigated in 407 patients' with Graves' disease, 200 with Hashimo...

The functional interleukin-4 receptor is a heterodimeric complex composed of the IL-4 receptor alpha chain and the common cytokine gamma chain. The interleukin-4 receptor (IL-4R) gene is located on human chromosome 16p12.1-11.2. A polymorphism at codon 50 of the alpha chain alters the receptor response to the Th2 cytokine interleukin-4 (IL-4). The allele with the amino acid isoleucine at position 50 (Ile50) upregulates receptor activity in response to binding with IL-4 ...

A number of candidate genes have been investigated as susceptibility loci for the development of Graves' disease. Those which appear to be consistently associated with disease include the HLA and the CTLA-4 gene regions. Polymorphisms of the VDR gene have been shown to increase susceptibility to autoimmune diseases including type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and Crohn's disease. Recently, an association has also been reported between the VDR gene and autoimmune thyroid dise...