THYROCYTES EXPRESS INFLAMMATORY MEDIATORS

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Graves' disease is a common autoimmunine disease. Patients who have this disease are hyperthyroid and can develop a thyroid goiter, ophthalmopathy and/or dermopathy. We believe that antibodies and other factors (IL-16) present in the serum of patients with Graves' disease are important mediators of the inflammatory process, which characterizes the tissues affected by this disease. Some patients with Graves' disease have elevated levels of the cytokine IL-16 in their blood. We propose to measure and follow for 48 months, IL-16 levels in the blood of patients with Graves' disease and attempt to correlate these levels with the clinical severity and progression (for 48 months) of Graves' disease. IL-16 levels will also be measured in normal control subjects. Antibodies will be extracted from the blood samples donated by the study patients and used in cell culture experiments with thyroid cells. These experiments will 1) investigate the pathogenesis of thyroid inflammation and 2) identify potential therapeutic targets for interrupting the processes, which lead to the development of Graves' disease.