Endocrine Abstracts

Thyroid hormone (TH) is essential for fetal development and before 14 weeks maternal supply of TH is critical to the fetus. Subtle abnormalities of maternal thyroid status have been reported to affect neurodevelopment in childhood (1,2). To explore this further, we examined the relationship between maternal thyroid status and newborn measures of growth potential. A cohort of uncomplicated pregnant women (n=480) was recruited. At antenatal booking (mean gestation 13.05 weeks) m...

Thyroid hormones are essential for optimum fetal neurodevelopment. In-utero nutrition is dependant on adequate placentation. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) have been demonstrated to affect proliferation of human trophoblast and may therefore play a role in adequate human placentation. Intrauterine growth restriction (a process associated with malplacentation) is associated with fetal hypothyroxinemia and enhanced thyroid receptor (TR) expressi...

The prognosis of differentiated thyroid cancers is influenced by their ability to accumulate iodine and hence their sensitivity to ablative 131I therapy. Radioiodine concentration is mediated by the sodium-iodide symporter (NIS). We have previously identified PTTG and fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) as potential prognostic indicators for differentiated thyroid cancers. Furthermore, we demonstrated that FGF-2 reduces iodide uptake in FRTL5 cells and primary human ...

PTTG has been implicated in the pathogenesis of pituitary, thyroid and other tumours. PBF was recently identified as a protein which interacts specifically with PTTG both in vitro and in vivo. PBF facilitates PTTG's nuclear localisation, and mediates its ability to transactivate basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2). We investigated PBF expression and function in vitro, and examined its relationship to PTTG action. Transient transfection of wild type PTTG induced a significan...

Background: Abnormalities of cardiac autonomic function may contribute to excess vascular mortality reported in treated hyperthyroidism.Aim: To evaluate cardiac autonomic function in hyperthyroidism before and after effective anti-thyroid therapy.Methods: 405 consecutive unselected patients with hyperthyroidism were recruited with 405 age- and sex-matched euthyroid controls for matched comparisons; all had 24-hour Holter monitoring. Patients were reassessed when render...

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...

The critical role of thyroid hormones (TH) in normal human growth and fetal development is well recognised. The availability of tri-iodothyronine (T3) to bind to thyroid hormone receptors is determined by the local concentrations of T3, as well as the local action of deiodinase enzymes that determine conversion of T4.Quantitative real time RT-PCR was used to quantify the expression of mRNAs encoding the specific deiodinase subtypes (D1, D2 & D3) in h...

Graves' disease and type 1 diabetes frequently occur together and this would suggest that genetic susceptibility is due to common loci. The insulin (INS) gene region (IDDM2) on chromosome 11p15.5 is linked to, and associated with, type 1 diabetes and it has been suggested that it may be acting as a general autoimmunity locus. Susceptibility is conferred by the variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR); a polymorphic region situated 5' to the INS gene. The class I/I homozygote g...