The thyrotropin (TSH) receptor is a putative target for autoantibodies in Graves' hyperthyroidism and therefore, should be capable of being identified, isolated, and structurally characterized by immunological means. To this end, four sera from patients with hyperthyroidism, three of which inhibited the binding of 125I-TSH to Triton-solubilized human thyroid membranes, were used to isolate TSH ...

BACKGROUND Hyperthyroid patients commonly complain of generalized bony aches, which are frequently overlooked due to the more prominent symptoms of cardiovascular and nervous disturbances. Hyperthyroid patients are expected to have abnormal bone metabolism as part of the generalized hypermetabolic status. The aim of this study is to verify the presence of metabolic bone superscan in association...

s. The Inui and Ochi group recently reported that CAMP production by porcine thyroid cells (PTC) was augmented more by polyethylene glycol (PEG) 22.5% precipitated fractions from almost all Graves' sera than those of PEG 12.5%. In the present study, thyroid stimulating immunoglobulin (TSI) activity was determined with PTC and prepared crude Ig fractions precipitated by two different concentrati...

Swelling of the thyroid gland is a common symptom in patients with Graves' disease. However, until recently there were no adequate means of measuring the thyroid volume. In this study, thyroid volume (in Graves' disease patients on antithyroid drug (ATD) therapy) was measured serially by a new ultrasound technique involving the use of a specifically programmed computer. The relationships betwee...

AIM To evaluate the effect of vitamin D3 receptor (VDR) gene BsmI/ApaI/TaqI restriction fragment length polymorphisms on Graves' disease susceptibility in a subset of patients from Eastern Croatia. METHODS Graves' disease patients (n=110) and ethnically matched euthyroid controls (n=99) with no clinical evidence or family history of thyroid or autoimmune diseases were genotyped for VDR gene p...

AIM To assess levels of soluble Fas (sFas) in the sera of patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy. METHODS The subjects in this study were 43 patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy and 11 normal subjects. Serum levels of sFas were determined by sandwich enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. In addition, serum levels of thyroid stimulating antibody (TSAB) were also measured in all the patients. RESU...