Endocrine Abstracts

Thyroid hormone (T3) is required for skeletal development during childhood and T3 regulates bone turnover and mineralisation in adults. Thyrotoxicosis is an established risk factor for osteoporosis. We and others have shown that T3 receptors (TRs) are expressed in osteoblasts and growth plate chondrocytes, which represent primary T3-target cells in the skeleton. T3 effects on osteoclast-mediated bone resorption are thought to be mediated by osteoblasts via paracrine pathways. ...

Thyroid hormone T3 controls many functions in Vertebrates including developmental processes (body and skeletal growth, nervous system maturation) and physiological regulations (heart rate, thermogenesis, glycemia, T3 production). The action of T3 is mediated by two isotypes of nuclear receptors, respectively TRa and TRb that are encoded by two different genes. Each of these two genes encodes several isoforms, several of which are not true receptors.T3 is...

Papillary carcinoma (PC) represents the most common malignancy of the thyroid gland. Therefore, the assessment of biopsies of thyroid nodules rests heavily on the identification of malignant from benign features. Unfortunately, up to 60% of biopsies are considered inadequate due to sampling artifact, insufficient material, or marked inter-observer variation. Proposed molecular markers of PC include HBME-1, specific cytokeratins such as CK19, and the tyrosine kinase receptor (r...

In the 46 years since the discovery of thyroid autoimmunity, the same questions have recurred: why does it start, why does it progress, albeit slowly, to disease and what is the nature of the interaction between the autoantigen(s) and the immune system? Answers to these should allow us to address the most important question, namely, can we improve present treatment, especially in the case of Graves' disease with ophthalmopathy? Susceptibility to thyroid autoimmunity and progre...