Endocrine Abstracts

Whereas G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) have been long believed to signal through cyclic AMP exclusively at cell surface, our group has previously shown that GPCRs not only signal at the cell surface but can also continue doing so once internalized together with their ligands, leading to persistent cAMP production. This phenomenon, which we originally described for the thyroid stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) in thyroid cells, has been observed also for other GPCRs. How...

Introduction: Mct8 is a thyroid hormone specific transporter located at the basolateral plasma membrane of thyrocytes. To investigate the significance of Mct8 to the thyroid gland while excluding peripheral effects observed in global knockout models, we used a Cre-LoxP thyroid-specific Mct8-deficient mouse model. Phenotypes of the angiofollicular unit encompassing the follicle and surrounding endothelial cells were investigated with respect to functional and morphological stat...

Introduction: Monocarboxylate transporter 8 (MCT8) is a thyroid hormone-specific transmembrane transport protein. Inactivating mutations in MCT8 lead to severe mental retardation, the Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome. The severity of the Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome differs among MCT8 patients. Partial activity of MCT8 can be caused either by mutations affecting the transport mechanism (e.g. substrate interaction, conformational change) or by inefficient protein expression, memb...

Sox9 is a transcription factor of the HMG box DNA binding family involved in chondrocyte differentiation, sexual determination and the development of endoderm-derived-organs. Preliminary results from our laboratory have shown that Sox9 is expressed in the thyroid gland and its regulation is under the control of TSH and TGFβ. In this work we studied the role of Sox9 in the thyroid cells differentiation and its relationship with the other thyroid transcription factors, main...

BackgroundThyroid hormone transporting proteins Mct8 and Mct10 have been detected at the plasma membrane of thyroid epithelial cells, whereas Lat2 was found predominantly at vesicular membranes. In this study we look into the effects of inhibiting thyroid hormone transporters on their subcellular localisation to better understand their fate and trafficking pathways in thyrocytes. Thus, a pharmacological intervention study with specific inhibitors of thyr...

Introduction: Patients in need of an intensive care unit (ICU) treatment due to severe diseases often develop the non-thyroidal illness syndrome (NTI). These critically ill patients present with low thyroxine (T4), low 3,3’,5-triiodothyronine (T3) and elevated reverse T3 (rT3) serum concentrations while TSH and 3,3’-diiodothyronine (3,3’-T2) concentrations remain unaffected. To further elucidate the underlying changes ...

Introduction: Programmed death-1 (PD-1) is one of the most important inhibitory co-receptors. Studies show that the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway regulates the induction and maintenance of peripheral tolerance and protects tissues from autoimmune attack in physiological conditions. Several studies have shown association of PD-1/PD-L1 pathway with several autoimmune diseases although, to date, no such studies have been performed for Graves’ disease (GD).Aims: T...

Thyroid hormones (THs) play a critical role in the regulation of growth and development in both animals and humans. They regulate metabolism primarily through actions in the brain, white fat, brown fat, skeletal muscle, liver and pancreas. Therefore, it is not surprising that since a long time scientists have been interested in measuring TH concentration in different tissues and to relate this value with possible dysfunctions. In general, TH levels are measured by immunoassay ...

Introduction: Given the significant impact of thyroid function on body weight, energy metabolism and adipocytes physiology, our aim was to study the impact of subclinical thyroid dysfunction in plasmatic levels of adipokines and ICAM-1 (intercellular adhesion molecule 1).Methods: We evaluated 98 patients with autoimmune thyroid disease divided into three groups: 30 who were euthyroid (TSH=0.35–4.94 UI/ml), 35 with subclinical hypothyroidism (hypoSC,...

Background: The genetic predisposition of Graves’ disease (GD) was proved by the identification of genes with substantial, non-interactive effects on the disease process. It is known, however, that genetic interactions significantly increase the likelihood of immune-tolerance-related complex diseases like allergic asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. In the present study we analyzed the effects of interactions of multiple loci on the genetic predisposition to GD patients....