Endocrine Abstracts

Aim: Neopterin has been found to be associated with disease activity in various infectious, inflammatory, and autoimmune diseases. It is an indicator of immune response as it is released after activation of monocytes and macrophages by IFN-γ. It was aimed to measure neopterin levels in Graves’ disease, which is a T cell-mediated autoimmune disease of the thyroid gland.

Materials and Methods: Twelve healthy individuals (6 women, 6 men), 13 Graves’ disease patients (7 women, 6 men) who applied to the endocrinology outpatient clinic and followed up were included in the study. Serum neopterin concentrations were analyzed with commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits (Human Neopterin Assay Kit, Bioassay Techonology Laboratory, China) according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Results: The mean age of healthy individuals was 42.17±11.52 years, and the mean age of Graves’ patients was 41.31±9.85 years. TSH levels were found to be lower and free T3 and free T4 levels were found to be higher in Graves’ patients compared to controls (P<0.05). Likewise, serum neopterin levels were high (9.299±6.271 nmol/l: Graves’, 1.432±1.304 nmol/l: control, P<0.05, respectively).

Conclusion: In our study, serum neopterin levels of Graves’ disease patients were found higher than the control group. There is generally a significant relationship between neopterin and IFN-γ concentrations. It has been observed that neopterin increases in body fluids, especially during the activation periods of diseases in which cellular immunity plays a major role in the pathogenesis. The most potent stimulator of neopterin synthesis is IFN-γ, which is a Th1 cytokine, and it has been suggested that serum neopterin levels are a sensitive marker of endogenous IFN-γ release. In our study, a similar result with the literature was found, such as the detection of high neopterin levels in immune system-related diseases.

Keywords: neopterin, graves, hyperthyroidism.