Serum MicroRNA Profiles in Athyroid Patients on and off Levothyroxine Therapy

Overview

Journal PLoS One

Specialties General Medicine
Science

Date 2018 Apr 13

PMID 29649216

Citations 5

Authors

Elske T Massolt

Layal Chaker

Theo J Visser

Ad J M Gillis

Lambert C J Dorssers

Carolien M Beukhof

Boen L R Kam

Gaston J Franssen

Giulia Brigante

Tessa M van Ginhoven

W Edward Visser

Leendert H J Looijenga

Robin P Peeters

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Levothyroxine replacement treatment in hypothyroidism is unable to restore physiological thyroxine and triiodothyronine concentrations in serum and tissues completely. Normal serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) concentrations reflect only pituitary euthyroidism and, therefore, novel biomarkers representing tissue-specific thyroid state are needed. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), small non-coding regulatory RNAs, exhibit tissue-specific expression patterns and can be detectable in serum. Previous studies have demonstrated differential expression of (precursors of) miRNAs in tissues under the influence of thyroid hormone.

Objective: To study if serum miRNA profiles are changed in different thyroid states.

Design And Methods: We studied 13 athyroid patients (6 males) during TSH suppressive therapy and after 4 weeks of thyroid hormone withdrawal. A magnetic bead capture system was used to isolate 384 defined miRNAs from serum. Subsequently, the TaqMan Array Card 3.0 platform was used for profiling after individual target amplification.

Results: Mean age of the subjects was 44.0 years (range 20-61 years). Median TSH levels were 88.9 mU/l during levothyroxine withdrawal and 0.006 mU/l during LT4 treatment with a median dosage of 2.1 μg/kg. After normalization to allow inter-sample analysis, a paired analysis did not demonstrate a significant difference in expression of any of the 384 miRNAs analyzed on and off LT4 treatment.

Conclusion: Although we previously showed an up-regulation of pri-miRNAs 133b and 206 in hypothyroid state in skeletal muscle, the present study does not supply evidence that thyroid state also affects serum miRNAs in humans.

Citing Articles

Expressions of mitochondria-related genes in pregnant women with subclinical hypothyroidism, and expressions of miRNAs in maternal and cord blood.

Stryhn J, Larsen J, Pedersen P, Gaede P Thyroid Res. 2023; 16(1):38.

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Restoration of euthyroidism with levothyroxine: implications of etiology of hypothyroidism and the degree of residual endogenous thyroid function.

Jonklaas J Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2022; 13:934003.

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Identification and Validation Model for Informative Liquid Biopsy-Based microRNA Biomarkers: Insights from Germ Cell Tumor In Vitro, In Vivo and Patient-Derived Data.

Lobo J, Gillis A, van den Berg A, Dorssers L, Belge G, Dieckmann K Cells. 2019; 8(12).

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Functional and Symptomatic Individuality in the Response to Levothyroxine Treatment.

Hoermann R, Midgley J, Larisch R, Dietrich J Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2019; 10:664.

PMID: 31616383 PMC: 6775211. DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2019.00664.

Lessons from Randomised Clinical Trials for Triiodothyronine Treatment of Hypothyroidism: Have They Achieved Their Objectives?.

Hoermann R, Midgley J, Larisch R, Dietrich J J Thyroid Res. 2018; 2018:3239197.

PMID: 30174821 PMC: 6098896. DOI: 10.1155/2018/3239197.

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