PREVALENCE OF AUTOANTIBODIES TO ENDOCRINE ORGANS IN GIRLS WITH ULLRICH-TURNER SYNDROME AGED 5-14 YEARS

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.