Presence or severity of Hashimoto's thyroiditis does not influence basal calcitonin levels: observations from CROHT biobank.

PURPOSE: The influence of Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) on calcitonin (Ct) production is unresolved question. The aim of this study was to explore if basal Ct levels are influenced by the presence/severity of HT or correlated with clinical phenotypes of HT patients. METHODS: We included 467 HT patients and 184 control participants, from Croatian Biobank of HT patients (CROHT), in this retrospective study. Calcitonin levels between HT patients and controls were compared using Mann-Whitney test. Ct levels between two subgroups of HT patients, divided by intake of levothyroxine (LT4) therapy, were additionally tested to take into account the illness severity. Spearman rank correlation test was used to analyze correlations between Ct levels and 14 relevant phenotypes. RESULTS: We have not detected significant differences in median Ct levels between HT patients and controls (2.2 vs 2.35 pg/mL, respectively, P = 0.717) nor in-between two subgroups of HT patients (P = 0.347). We have not detected statistically significant correlations between Ct levels and clinical phenotypes, although we identified three weak nominal correlations: negative correlation of Ct with TgAb in all HT patients (r = - 0.1, P = 0.04); negative correlation of Ct with age in subgroup of HT patients without LT4 therapy (r = - 0.13, P = 0.04); positive correlation of Ct with BSA in subgroup of HT patients on LT4 therapy (r = 0.16, P = 0.042). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that HT patients of all disease stages preserve Ct production as healthy individuals and there is no need for Ct measurements in the absence of a nodule. Additional confirmation and clarification of observed nominal correlations are needed due to potential clinical relevance of TgAb and age-dependent Ct decrease in HT women.

Genome-wide association analysis suggests novel loci for Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

PURPOSE: Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) is the most common form of autoimmune thyroid diseases. Current knowledge of HT genetics is limited, and not a single genome-wide association study (GWAS) focusing exclusively on HT has been performed to date. In order to decipher genetic determinants of HT, we performed the first GWAS followed by replication in a total of 1443 individuals from Croatia. METHODS: We performed association analysis in a discovery cohort comprising 405 cases and 433 controls. We followed up 13 independent signals (P < 10-5) in 303 cases and 302 controls from two replication cohorts and then meta-analyzed results across discovery and replication datasets. RESULTS: We identified three variants suggestively associated with HT: rs12944194 located 206 kb from SDK2 (P = 1.8 × 10-6), rs75201096 inside GNA14 (P = 2.41 × 10-5) and rs791903 inside IP6K3 (P = 3.16 × 10-5). Genetic risk score (GRS), calculated using risk alleles of these loci, accounted for 4.82% of the total HT variance, and individuals from the top GRS quartile had 2.76 times higher odds for HT than individuals from the lowest GRS quartile. CONCLUSIONS: Although discovered loci are implicated with susceptibility to HT for the first time, genomic regions harboring these loci exhibit good biological candidacy due to involvement in the regulation of the thyroid function and autoimmunity. Additionally, we observe genetic overlap between HT and several related traits, such as hypothyroidism, Graves' disease and TPOAb. Our study adds a new knowledge of underlying HT genetics and sets a firm basis for further research.

Association of established hypothyroidism-associated genetic variants with Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

PURPOSE: Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) as a chronic autoimmune disease of the thyroid gland is the most common cause of hypothyroidism. Since HT and hypothyroidism are closely related, the main aim of this study was to explore the association of established hypothyroidism single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with HT. METHODS: The case-control dataset included 200 HT cases and 304 controls. Diagnosis of HT cases was based on clinical examination, measurement of thyroid antibodies (TgAb, TPOAb), hormones (TSH and FT4) and ultrasound examination. We genotyped and analysed 11 known hypothyroidism-associated genetic variants. Case-control association analysis was performed in order to test each SNP for the association with HT using logistic regression model. Additionally, each SNP was tested for the association with thyroid-related quantitative traits (TPOAb levels, TgAb levels and thyroid volume) in HT cases only using linear regression. RESULTS: We identified two genetic variants nominally associated with HT rs3184504 in SH2B3 gene (P = 0.0135, OR = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.57-0.95) and rs4704397 in PDE8B gene (P = 0.0383, OR = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.01-1.74). The SH2B3 genetic variant also showed nominal association with TPOAb levels (P = 0.0163, ß = -0.46) and rs4979402 inside DFNB31 gene was nominally associated with TgAb levels (P = 0.0443, ß = 0.41). CONCLUSIONS: SH2B3 gene has previously been associated with susceptibility to several autoimmune diseases, whereas PDE8B has been associated with TSH levels and suggested to modulate thyroid physiology that may influence the manifestation of thyroid disease. Identified loci are novel and biologically plausible candidates for HT development and represent good basis for further exploration of HT susceptibility.

Differential in vivo activation of monocyte subsets during low-grade inflammation through experimental endotoxemia in humans.

Human monocytes are a heterogeneous cell population, which can be divided into a classical (CD14++CD16-), a non-classical (CD14+CD16+), and an intermediate (CD14++CD16+) subset. We hypothesized that low-grade inflammation may differentially affect monocyte subsets. We used a human lipopolysaccharide (LPS) infusion model to mimic low-grade inflammation to identify, which monocyte subsets are preferentially activated under these conditions. Monocyte subsets were identified by staining for CD14 and CD16, activation status of monocytes was analyzed by staining for CD11b and a novel in situ mRNA hybridization approach to detect IL-6 and IL-8 specific mRNA at the single-cell level by flow cytometry. After LPS challenge, cell numbers of monocyte subsets dropped after 2 h with cell numbers recovering after 6 h. Distribution of monocyte subsets was skewed dramatically towards the intermediate subset after 24 h. Furthermore, intermediate monocytes displayed the largest increase of CD11b expression after 2 h. Finally, IL-6 and IL-8 mRNA levels increased in intermediate and non-classical monocytes after 6 h whereas these mRNA levels in classical monocytes changed only marginally. In conclusion, our data indicates that the main responding subset of monocytes to standardized low-grade inflammation induced by LPS in humans is the CD14++CD16+ intermediate subset followed by the CD14+CD16+ non-classical monocyte subset. Circulating classical monocytes showed comparably less reaction to LPS challenge in vivo.