BioProject

The trace element selenium (Se) plays an important role in thyroid hormone metabolism. More...

The trace element selenium (Se) plays an important role in thyroid hormone metabolism. Low Se intake is associated with atuoimmune hypothyroidism. The interaction of Se and Graves’ disease (GD) is only poorly characterized. We have investigated the importance of dietary Se supply for GD by performing a more in-depth analysis of a large cross-sectional study of 6152 participants from two counties within the Shaanxi Province, China, which are characterized by different habitual Se intakes, and studied the effects of different dietary Se supply (0.02, 0.18, 0.6 or 2.0 ppm Se) on disease development in a mouse model of GD. In the cross-sectional study, prevalence of GD in the two areas of different Se intake was similar, and the Se status of GD patients was not different from healthy control subjects. The dietary Se supply in the animal model was not affecting thyroid hormone levels, malondialdehyde concentrations, total antioxidant capacity or the titer of GD-causing TSH receptor autoantibodies (TRAb). Expression analysis of transcripts in spleen indicated regulatory effects of Se intake on genes implicated in the immune response, erythropoiesis and oxygen status. However, the humoral immune response including the ratio of CD4/CD8 or Th1/Th2 cells, and the concentration of Treg cells were similar between the experimental groups despite their varying Se intakes. Our data from both the epidemiological analysis and animal experiment do not indicate a major role of Se in the development of GD, and highlight that autoimmune hypothyroidism and GD differ in their relation to Se status. Overall design: Nine samples were analyzed in three groups, and there were three replicated samples in each group Less...