Search

OBJECTIVE: The acute decrease in iodide organification in the thyroid in response to excess iodide is termed the acute Wolff-Chaikoff effect and normal organification resumes in spite of continued high plasma iodide concentrations (escape from the acute Wolff-Chaikoff effect). We have recently reported that large doses of iodide given to rats chronically decrease the sodium/iodide symporter (NIS) mRNA and protein, suggesting that escape is due to a decrease in NIS and subsequent iodide transport. We have now studied the effect of excess iodide on NIS in FRTL-5 cells to further explore the mechanisms whereby excess iodide decreases NIS. DESIGN: FRTL-5 cells were employed and were incubated in the presence or absence of various concentrations of iodide. NIS mRNA and protein and the turnover of NIS were assessed. METHODS: NIS mRNA was measured by Northern analysis, NIS protein by Western analysis and NIS turnover by pulse-chase labeling experiments. RESULTS: Iodide (10(-) mol/l) had no effect on NIS mRNA in FRTL-5 cells at 24 and 48 h compared with cells cultured in the absence of iodide. However, excess iodide decreased NIS protein by 50% of control values at 24 h and by 70% at 48 h. This effect of iodide was dose dependent. Pulse-chase experiments demonstrated that there was no effect of iodide on new NIS protein synthesis and that the turnover of NIS protein in the presence of iodide was 27% faster than in the absence of added iodide. CONCLUSIONS: Excess iodide does not decrease NIS mRNA in FRTL-5 cells but does decrease NIS protein, suggesting that in this in vitro thyroid cell model iodide modulates NIS, at least in part, at a post-transcriptional level. This iodide-induced decrease in NIS protein appears to be due, at least partially, to an increase in NIS protein turnover.

Several lines of evidence suggest that tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) may contribute to the pathogenesis of autoimmune thyroid disease. It is not known, however, whether increased thyroidal TNFalpha levels are associated with changes in thyroid function. The purpose of the present study was to utilize in situ hybridization histochemistry and immunohistochemistry to determine if the expression of TNF-alpha in the thyroid is associated with a decrease in thyroglobulin (Tg) and thyroid peroxidase (TPO) mRNA levels. Lymphocytic thyroiditis was induced in BB/Wor rats by iodide administration, and thyroidal Tg and TPO mRNA levels were assessed by Northern blot analysis and in situ hybridization, and TNFalpha expression by Northern blot analysis and immunohistochemistry. Thyroids were obtained before and 1 and 2 months after iodide administration. Hematoxylin and eosin staining revealed that there was a progressive increase in mononuclear cells in the thyroids of BB/Wor rats ingesting iodide for 1 and 2 months. Northern blot analysis revealed that during the same time course there was a progressive increase in TNFalpha mRNA levels and a progressive decrease in Tg and TPO mRNA levels in the thyroids. In situ hybridization histochemistry was performed to determine if the decrease in Tg and TPO mRNA levels was associated with thyroid follicular cells in contact with infiltrating mononuclear cells. In rats treated with iodide for 1 month, there was a modest decrease in Tg and TPO mRNA levels in follicular cells in contact with infiltrating mononuclear cells. After 2 months of iodide treatment there was clearly a localized decrease in Tg and TPO mRNA levels in follicular cells in contact with infiltrating mononuclear cells. Immunohistochemical analysis did not detect TNFalpha in the thyroids from control rats or from rats treated with iodide for 1 month. In contrast, after 2 months of treatment, TNFalpha was easily detected in infiltrating mononuclear cells and in some thyroid follicular cells. Together, these results suggest that the suppression of Tg and TPO mRNA levels was associated with the expression of TNFalpha and thus are in agreement with in vitro studies demonstrating that TNFalpha inhibits thyroid cell function.

OBJECTIVE: Apoptosis via the Fas pathway is a potential mechanism for thyroid tissue destruction leading to clinical hypothyroidism in Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT). Recent studies reported contradictory results regarding the regulation of Fas/Fas ligand (FasL) expression by cytokines in vitro. We therefore determined the Fas and FasL gene expression in the BioBreeding/Worcester (BB/W) rat thyroiditis model, which can be regarded as a model for HT. METHODS: In order to obtain BB/W rats with spontaneous, iodine-induced or without lymphocytic thyroiditis (LT), rats were divided into 3 groups: 55-day-old rats after 24 days of iodine administration, 75-day-old rats after 45 days of iodine administration, and 101-day-old rats respectively. The gene expression of Fas, FasL, and interleukin (IL)-1beta was determined by Genescan fragment analysis using reverse polymerase chain reaction. Serum thyroglobulin (TG) antibody concentrations were measured and the extent of lymphocytic infiltration of one thyroid lobe was histologically graded. RESULTS: Fas and FasL gene expression was significantly higher in rats with LT and correlated with the extent of lymphocytic infiltration and the TG antibody level. There was no evidence that the expression of IL-1beta or other cytokines is related to the expression of Fas or its ligand. CONCLUSIONS: The increased expression of Fas and FasL in LT of BB/W rats suggests the involvement of the Fas pathway in the pathogenesis of LT in BB/W rats. However, in contrast to results of recent in vitro studies, in the BB/W rat Fas/FasL expression is not regulated by IL-2, -4, -6, -10, -12, interferon gamma, and tumor necrosis factor alpha.

Familial dysalbuminemic hyperthyroxinemia (FDH) is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by euthyroid hyperthyroxinemia. However, FDH has not been reported in Chinese or African patients. Here, we report the first case of FDH in a Chinese patient. A 69-year-old Chinese man was found to have increased serum total T(4) concentrations (198-242nmol/l; normal range 58-148nmol/l) and free T(4) concentrations (>58pmol/l; T(4) analog method, normal range 9-28pmol/l). Serum total T(3) and TSH concentrations were normal. The patient was misdiagnosed as hyperthyroid and was later suspected to have a TSH-producing tumor by the finding of a pituitary microadenoma, which was eventually proven to be a non-functional pituitary 'incidentaloma'. Electrophoretic analysis of the patient's serum proteins demonstrated enhanced albumin binding of [(125)I]T(4). Serum free T(4) concentrations were normal (16-19pmol/l, normal range 9-26pmol/l) when a two-step method was used. Direct sequencing of the albumin gene showed a guanine to adenosine transition in the second nucleotide of codon 218, resulting in a substitution of histidine (CAC) for the normal arginine (CGC) in one of the two alleles in the patient. The point mutation was further confirmed by HphI digestion of exon 7 of the albumin gene. The patient's son was not affected. Our studies demonstrated that the point mutation of the albumin gene in a Chinese patient with FDH was similar to that found in western white families, but differed from that in a Japanese family in whom a guanine to cytosine transition at the same position was found.

Chronic feeding of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its sulfated metabolite, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), has previously been reported to decrease hyperglycemia, obesity, cancer, and autoantibody generation in a number of animal models and to increase muscle mass and physiological and psychological well-being in elderly humans, although these latter studies remain controversial. The present study was carried out to determine whether large amounts of DHEAS given orally would prevent the occurrence of spontaneous and iodine-induced autoimmune lymphocytic thyroiditis (LT) and/or spontaneous insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (DM) in male and female BB/Wor rats. DHEAS was administered by gavage (44 mg/rat/day) or in the chow (133 mg/rat/day) to LT- and DM-prone rats from 30 to 120 days of life; some of these rats also received iodine in the drinking water to enhance the incidence and intensity of LT. Onset of DM requiring protamine zinc insulin and its maintenance dose were assessed. Rats were killed at 90 or 120 days of age and blood, thyroid, adrenals, pancreases, testes, and ovaries were removed. Serum glucose, DHEA, DHEAS, thyroxine (T4), tri-iodothyronine (T3) and thyrotropin (TSH) concentrations were measured in all rats in both experiments. Serum DHEAS concentrations were 10-fold higher in the rats given the steroid by gavage or in the diet compared with levels in control rats. DHEAS administered over a prolonged period of time had no significant effect on body weight, incidence and severity of DM, incidence and intensity of spontaneous and iodine-induced LT, and thyroid, pancreas and testes weights but did significantly decrease adrenal and ovarian weights. Serum T4, T3, and TSH concentrations were similar in control and DHEAS-treated rats. In conclusion, DHEAS did not prevent the occurrence of iodine-induced or spontaneous autoimmune LT or spontaneous DM in the BB/Wor rat, at variance with its reported immunosuppressive effects in other animal models.