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Circulating Thyrotropin Bioactivity in Sporadic Central Hypothyroidism¹

Institute of Endocrine Sciences, University of Milan, Istituto Auxologico Italiano Instituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (L.P.), and Ospedale Maggiore Instituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (S.B., G.F., P.B.-P.), 20145 Milan; and Department of Clinical Science, Endocrinology, University of Rome La Sapienza (E.F.), 00100 Rome, Italy

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Luca Persani, M.D., Ph.D., Laboratorio di Ricerche Endocrinologiche, Istituto Auxologico Italiano Instituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico, Via Ariosto 13, 20145 Milan, Italy. E-mail: persani{at}auxologico.it

The etiopathogenesis of sporadic central hypothyroidism (CH) involves pituitary and hypothalamic lesions. Pituitary CH (pCH) implies a diminished number of functioning thyrotropes, accounting for the quantitative impairment of TSH secretion. Hypothalamic CH (hCH) is characterized by normal or even increased TSH concentrations and qualitative abnormalities of TSH secretion, including a decreased bioactivity of circulating TSH. However, controversy still exists about the actual occurrence of bioinactive TSH among CH patients, and no data are available in pCH. Therefore, we studied 41 CH patients with different hypothalamic-pituitary disorders. Immunoreactive TSH (TSH-I) ranged from 0.08–11.1 mU/L (normal, 0.24–4.0), free T₄ (FT₄) ranged from 0.6–8.8 pmol/L (normal, 9–18), and FT₃ ranged from 1.2–5.4 pmol/L (normal, 4–8). A blunted TSH response to TRH (<4 mU/L), indicating prevalent pCH, was found in 56% of the patients, and a net TSH-I increment 4 mU/L, indicating prevalent hCH, was found in the remaining 44%. Net TSH-I increments showed significant correlation with basal FT₄ (P < 0.02), indicating the relevance of pituitary TSH reserve in the pathogenesis of CH. Circulating TSH was immunoconcentrated and tested in bioassay and in ricin affinity chromatography. The ratio between biological (B) and immunological (I) activities of circulating TSH was reduced (n = 25; TSH B/I, 0.38 ± 0.19) compared to the values recorded in normal subjects (n = 26; TSH B/I, 1.53 ± 0.54; P < 0.001) and primary hypothyroid patients (n = 24; TSH B/I, 0.74 ± 0.31; P < 0.001), but no difference between pCH (n = 9; 0.36 ± 0.16) and hCH (n = 16; 0.39 ± 0.20) was seen. TSH B/I values in CH patients showed a limited overlap with normal values (20%) and a highly significant correlation with the FT₃ response to endogenous TRH-stimulated TSH (P < 0.005). The elevated sialylation degree of TSH molecules may explain part of these findings.

In conclusion, the secretion of TSH molecules with reduced bioactivity is a common alteration in the patients with hypothalamic-pituitary lesions, contributing along with the impairment of pituitary TSH reserve to the pathogenesis of CH.

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