Atypical phenotypic aspects of autoimmune thyroid disorders in young patients with Turner syndrome

Tommaso Aversa,Romina Gallizzi,Giuseppina Zirilli,Filippo De Luca,Giuseppina Salzano,Mariella Valenzise

doi:10.1186/s13052-018-0447-3

Tommaso Aversa, Romina Gallizzi + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s13052-018-0447-3

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Journal: Italian Journal of Pediatrics	Publication Date: Jan 17, 2018
Citations: 9	License type: open-access

Affiliation: University of Messina

Abstract

Aim of this commentary is to analyze the current views about the phenotypic features of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) and Graves’ disease (GD) in Turner syndrome (TS) girls, in terms of epidemiology, clinical and biochemical presentation, long-term course and metamorphic autoimmunity evolution. In TS GD course is not atypical, whereas HT course is characterized by both a mild presenting picture and a severe long-term evolution of thyroid function tests. Furthermore, TS girls seem to have an increased risk of switching over time from HT to GD. On the light of these findings, it may be concluded that TS girls with HT need a careful monitoring of thyroid status over time.Conclusions: 1) In children the association with TS is able to condition a peculiar phenotypic expression of HT in terms of epidemiology, presentation course and long-term metamorphic autoimmunity; 2) by contrast, children with TS do not exhibit an atypical clinical and biochemical course of GD, but only a significantly higher prevalence of this disease.

Highlights

Turner syndrome (TS) is one of the most common chromosomopathies, with a reported prevalence of 1:2500 live-born females [1]
The reasons for predilection of the thyroid gland as a target of autoimmunity in patients with TS have not been clearly identified to date [8], but this predilection might be explained, at least partially, on the basis of the close association between thyroid autoimmunity and female gender [5]
A very interesting aspect, which emerges from the analysis of the most recent reports on the relationships between TS and autoimmune thyroid disorders (AITDs), is that the association with TS seems to be able to affect the phenotypic expression of

Summary

Introduction

Turner syndrome (TS) is one of the most common chromosomopathies, with a reported prevalence of 1:2500 live-born females [1]. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) is, by far, the most common autoimmune disease in TS girls [2, 4], whilst the association between this syndrome and Graves’ disease (GD) has been reported to be significantly more infrequent [5–7].

Results

Conclusion