Why some thyroid tumors don't listen to the body's stop signal
An Abnormality of Thyroid Hormone Receptor Expression May Explain Abnormal Thyrotropin Production in Thyrotropin-Secreting Pituitary Tumors
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Thyroid hormone receptor mRNA was present at normal levels in tumors, but no corresponding proteins were detected.
It’s counterintuitive because if the genes are active and mRNA is made, you’d expect the proteins to form—this suggests a hidden biological glitch after gene reading, not before.
Practical Takeaways
If you have unexplained high thyroid hormone with high TSH, ask your doctor about testing for a TSH-secreting adenoma.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Thyroid hormone receptor mRNA was present at normal levels in tumors, but no corresponding proteins were detected.
It’s counterintuitive because if the genes are active and mRNA is made, you’d expect the proteins to form—this suggests a hidden biological glitch after gene reading, not before.
Practical Takeaways
If you have unexplained high thyroid hormone with high TSH, ask your doctor about testing for a TSH-secreting adenoma.
Publication
Journal
Thyroid
Year
1998
Authors
N. Gittoes, Christopher McCabe, J. Verhaeg, M. C. Sheppard, J. Franklyn
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Claims (4)
When thyroid hormone levels in the blood are high, the pituitary gland reduces production of thyroid-stimulating hormone. When thyroid-stimulating hormone levels are low, the thyroid gland produces thyroid hormones without normal regulatory control.
In certain benign tumors of the pituitary gland that overproduce TSH, the lack of thyroid hormone receptors prevents thyroid hormone from signaling the tumor to stop releasing TSH, leading to elevated thyroid hormone levels alongside abnormally high TSH.
In tumors that produce excess TSH hormone, the proteins that respond to thyroid hormones are not detectable, even though the genetic instructions to make them are present. This suggests a problem in converting those instructions into functional proteins, which could disrupt the body's normal control of TSH levels.
In certain pituitary tumors that overproduce TSH, the genetic instructions for thyroid hormone receptors are present and readable, but the receptors themselves are not made, suggesting a problem occurs after the genetic code is copied but before the protein is assembled.