TY - JOUR
T1 - Endocrine autoimmunity in Turner syndrome
AU - Grossi, Armando
AU - Crinò, Antonino
AU - Luciano, Rosa
AU - Lombardo, Antonietta
AU - Cappa, Marco
AU - Fierabracci, Alessandra
PY - 2013/12/20
Y1 - 2013/12/20
N2 - Background: Turner syndrome is caused by numeric and structural abnormalities of the X chromosome. An increased frequency of autoimmunity as well as an elevated incidence of autoantibodies was observed in Turner patients. The aim of this study was to conduct a retrospective analysis of the incidence of autoimmunity in 66 Italian patients affected by Turner syndrome. Methods. Sixty-six unselected and consecutive Italian Turner patients were recruited. The association between age, karyotype and the presence of clinical/pre-clinical autoimmune disorders and of autoantibodies was examined. Results: Out of the 66 Turner patients, 26 had thyroid autoimmune disorders (39.4%), 14 patients had Hashimoto's thyroiditis with clinical or subclinical hypothyroidism (21.2%) and 12 patients had circulating anti-thyroid antibodies, echographic pattern of diffuse hypoechogenicity and normal thyroid hormone levels (18.2%). None were affected by Graves' disease. We analyzed the overall incidence of thyroid autoimmunity within the 3 different age groups 0-9.9, 10-19.9 and 20-29.9 years. No statistically significant difference was observed in the incidence of thyroid autoimmunity within the age-groups (χ§ssup§2§ esup§-test p > 0.05).Out of the 66 patients, 31 patients had the 45,X karyotype; within this first group 14 out of 31 patients were affected by autoimmune thyroid disease. A second group of 29 patients included 19 patients with mosaicism, 5 patients with deletions and 5 patients with ring chromosome; out of these 29 patients 7 were affected by autoimmune thyroid disease. A third group included 6 patients with X isochromosome; 5 out of 6 were affected by autoimmune thyroid disease. A statistically significant difference in the frequency of thyroid autoimmunity within the different karyotype groups was observed (χ§ssup§2§esup§-test p = 0.0173).When comparing the X isochromosome group with the pooled group of other karyotypes, of note, the frequency of thyroid autoimmunity was statistically higher in the X isochromosome group (Fisher exact test p = 0.0315). Conclusions: Our data confirm a high frequency of thyroid autoimmunity in Italian Turner patients. Patients with X isochromosome are more prone to develop thyroid autoimmunity. Further, an early assay of autoantibodies and monitoring thyroid hormones is fundamental for detecting hypothyroidism earlier and start adequate replacement therapy.
AB - Background: Turner syndrome is caused by numeric and structural abnormalities of the X chromosome. An increased frequency of autoimmunity as well as an elevated incidence of autoantibodies was observed in Turner patients. The aim of this study was to conduct a retrospective analysis of the incidence of autoimmunity in 66 Italian patients affected by Turner syndrome. Methods. Sixty-six unselected and consecutive Italian Turner patients were recruited. The association between age, karyotype and the presence of clinical/pre-clinical autoimmune disorders and of autoantibodies was examined. Results: Out of the 66 Turner patients, 26 had thyroid autoimmune disorders (39.4%), 14 patients had Hashimoto's thyroiditis with clinical or subclinical hypothyroidism (21.2%) and 12 patients had circulating anti-thyroid antibodies, echographic pattern of diffuse hypoechogenicity and normal thyroid hormone levels (18.2%). None were affected by Graves' disease. We analyzed the overall incidence of thyroid autoimmunity within the 3 different age groups 0-9.9, 10-19.9 and 20-29.9 years. No statistically significant difference was observed in the incidence of thyroid autoimmunity within the age-groups (χ§ssup§2§ esup§-test p > 0.05).Out of the 66 patients, 31 patients had the 45,X karyotype; within this first group 14 out of 31 patients were affected by autoimmune thyroid disease. A second group of 29 patients included 19 patients with mosaicism, 5 patients with deletions and 5 patients with ring chromosome; out of these 29 patients 7 were affected by autoimmune thyroid disease. A third group included 6 patients with X isochromosome; 5 out of 6 were affected by autoimmune thyroid disease. A statistically significant difference in the frequency of thyroid autoimmunity within the different karyotype groups was observed (χ§ssup§2§esup§-test p = 0.0173).When comparing the X isochromosome group with the pooled group of other karyotypes, of note, the frequency of thyroid autoimmunity was statistically higher in the X isochromosome group (Fisher exact test p = 0.0315). Conclusions: Our data confirm a high frequency of thyroid autoimmunity in Italian Turner patients. Patients with X isochromosome are more prone to develop thyroid autoimmunity. Further, an early assay of autoantibodies and monitoring thyroid hormones is fundamental for detecting hypothyroidism earlier and start adequate replacement therapy.
KW - Autoantibodies
KW - Autoimmunity
KW - Karyotype analysis
KW - Thyroid disease
KW - Turner syndrome
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U2 - 10.1186/1824-7288-39-79
DO - 10.1186/1824-7288-39-79
M3 - Article
C2 - 24355069
AN - SCOPUS:84890501649
VL - 39
JO - Italian Journal of Pediatrics
JF - Italian Journal of Pediatrics
SN - 1720-8424
IS - 1
M1 - 79
ER -