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ABSTRACT: Autoimmune thyroiditis (AIT) may be associated with other organ-specific autoimmune disorders, including autoimmune gastritis, but the prevalence of this association is not entirely quantified. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of parietal cell antibodies (PCA) in a large cohort of consecutive patients with AIT.
We retrospectively studied 2016 consecutive women and 258 men with AIT seen at our referral center in the period from 2004 to 2008. All patients were screened for the presence of PCA in the serum.
The prevalence of serum PCA in female patients was 29.7% and progressively increased from 13% in the first-second decade of life to peak at 42% in the ninth decade. During follow up, 21.1% of the PCA-positive patients converted to PCA-negative status. Mean (±standard deviation) basal PCA levels in this group were significantly lower (32 ± 28 U/mL) compared with those remaining PCA positive (129 ± 200 U/mL). A similar prevalence (29.8%) with a similar age-dependency was found in male patients.
In conclusion, our study demonstrates a high, age-dependent prevalence of PCA in an unselected large population of patients with AIT.
Thyroid: official journal of the American Thyroid Association 11/2010; 20(12):1385-9. · 2.60 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Measurement of serum Tg using ultrasensitive assays is proposed to replace TSH-stimulated Tg measurement in the follow-up of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). Aim of our study was to verify this possibility using two ultrasensitive Tg assays. We selected 215 DTC patients with undetectable (<1 ng/ml) basal serum Tg at the time of a recombinant human TSH (rhTSH) stimulation. According to standard criteria, 173 (80.4%) patients were considered free of disease, 17 (7.9%) had documented disease and 25 (11.7%) had no evidence of disease but detectable serum rhTSH-stimulated Tg (biochemical disease). The sera of these patients were re-assayed with two commercial ultrasensitive assays and the results were compared with the clinical data. Basal Access and E-Iason Tg assays were able to distinguish patients with persistent disease or free of disease with a sensitivity of 82.3 and 82.3%, specificity of 85.5 and 86.1%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 35.8 and 36.8%, negative predictive value (NPV) of 98 and 98.6%, respectively. With both assays the addition of neck ultrasound to basal Tg increased the sensitivity and the NPV to 100% and decreased the false negative rate to 0%. In patients with detectable basal Tg without evidence of disease, serum Tg converted from detectable to undetectable in about 80% of the cases during 2-yr follow-up. Our study indicates that the combination of neck ultrasound and basal ultrasensitive Tg allows to identify all patients free of disease and can decrease the need for rhTSH stimulation in nearly 80% of the patients.
Journal of endocrinological investigation 03/2010; 34(8):e219-23. · 1.57 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Autoimmune gastritis is frequently associated with autoimmune thyroiditis and other organ-specific autoimmune diseases, and may lead to atrophic body gastritis (ABG). We studied the diagnostic use of the measurement of serum ghrelin compared with other markers of gastric damage in predicting the presence of ABG in patients with autoimmune gastritis.
We studied 233 patients with autoimmune gastritis and 211 control subjects. All patients and control subjects were screened for circulating parietal cell antibodies (PCAs) and were tested for serum ghrelin, gastrin, pepsinogen I and II, and anti-Helicobacter pylori antibody levels. A total of 52 patients and 28 control subjects underwent a gastric endoscopy.
In PCA/positive patients, mean (+/-sd) serum ghrelin levels were significantly lower (238 +/- 107 pmol/liter), and mean (+/-sd) serum gastrin levels were significantly higher (81.2 +/- 128.3 ng/ml), with respect to PCA/negative patients (282 +/- 104 pmol/liter and 20.7 +/- 13.3 ng/ml, respectively; P < 0.0001). Serum ghrelin and gastrin levels were inversely correlated (P = 0.004). A total of 40 patients had ABG documented by the gastric biopsy (90% in PCA/positive patients and 10% in PCA/negative patients). The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that a cutoff value for serum ghrelin of 188 pmol/liter was associated with the highest sensitivity and specificity (97.3 and 100%, respectively) in detecting gastric atrophy and was superior to gastrin (P = 0.012), PCA (P = 0.002), and the pepsinogen I/II ratio (P = 0.016) measurements.
Our study demonstrates that ghrelin secretion is negatively affected by autoimmune gastritis, and its serum level represents the most sensitive and specific noninvasive marker for selecting patients at high risk for ABG.
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 12/2007; 92(11):4346-51. · 6.50 Impact Factor
