M. Gluck et al., PREVALENCE OF AUTOANTIBODIES TO ENDOCRINE ORGANS IN GIRLS WITH ULLRICH-TURNER SYNDROME AGED 5-14 YEARS, Hormone research, 38(3-4), 1992, pp. 114-119
Endocrine function tests and a broad panel of autoantibodies to endocr
ine organs were assessed in 77 patients aged 5-14 years with Ullrich-T
urner syndrome (UTS), who were included in the German UTS Multicenter
Study. None of these patients had abnormal pituitary, thyroid or adren
ocortical function, as assessed by the adequate hormone tests. Antibod
ies to thyroid microsomes were found in 3 of the 77 (3.9%), antibodies
to thyroglobulin in 0/77. antibodies to adrenocortical cells in 1/77
(1.3%), gastric parietal cell antibodies in 2/77 (2.6%), and anterior
pituitary cell antibodies in 3/77 (3.9%) probands. These prevalences w
ere not significantly higher than those obtained in 154 age- and sex-m
atched normal control children when 2 control subjects were assigned t
o each patient with UTS. Our data do not show an increase in serologic
al signs of endocrine autoimmunity in young patients with UTS suggesti
ng that a putative association of these syndromes does not exist from
birth and is not usually present in childhood. However, we cannot excl
ude the possibility that UTS is associated with factors that render th
ese patients more susceptible to endocrine autoimmunity later in life.