Year: 1994
Type: article
Abstract: In order to evaluate the influnces of IFNα on thyroid function, thyroid-stimulating\nhormone (TSH), total thyroxine (T4), free T4, tri-iodothyronine (T3), and thyroxine-binding globulin were examined in IFNα-treated 351 patients with chronic hepatitis C before and during therapy. As therapy, either 3 million units (MU) of human lymphoblastoid IFNα or 9MU of recombinant IFNα2a was administrated daily for the initial two weeks followed by three times a week for 22 weeks. There were nine patients\nshowing thyroid dysfunction during IFNα therapy. They consist of one relapse of Graves' disease, one relapse of Hashimoto thyroiditis, one development of apparent thyroid insufficiency from subclinical hypothyroidism, five cases with transient hyperthyroidism and one case with transient hypothyroidism. T4 and T3 levels in most patients who transiently developed thyroid dysfunction were normalized spontaneously after the discontinuation of IFNα. Thyroid-related autoantibodies were positive in 4 patients before IFNα therapy and newly developed in one patient during therapy. Attention should be paid first to the\nprevious histories of autoimmune thyroid diseases and the existence of thyroid-related\nautoantibodies for the prediction of development of thyroid dysfunction during IFNα therapy. In addition, serial examinations of TSH, T3 and T4 should be also necessary for early detection of transient thyroid dysfunction during IFNα therapy.
Authors: Shigehiko Ueda, Masahide Yoshikawa, Shingo Okamoto, Taiko Tamagawa, Hirohisa Tsujinoue, Yoshinobu Ishii, Takuya Tsuruzono, Hiroshi Kawamoto, Mitsuhiro Kawata, Masaharu Yamazaki, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Hiroto Moriyasu, Youji Miyamoto, Takaaki Kimura, Kazuhiro Masui, Kouji Yamamoto, Akira Mitoro, Mayumi Mimura, Masanaga Kyo, Takemi Sakamoto, Masahiro Takagi, Hiroshi Fukui, Tadasu Tsujii
Language: English
Subfield: Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W606743864