Interleukin-13 gene polymorphisms in patients with Graves' disease.

Objective: In patients with Graves' disease (GD), an elevation of serum immunoglobulin E (IgE) has been recently reported to be associated with the severity of hyperthyroidism and ophthalmopathy. Interleukin 13 (IL-13) is a major cytokine involved in IgE synthesis and therefore may be a potential candidate gene contributing to the development of GD or influencing the clinical course of the disease.

Design: In a case-control study, we examined IL-13 gene single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the 5' promoter region at position -1112 (C to T change, termed as C-1112T) and in exon 4 at position 2044 (G to A change, G2044A, which results in an amino acid exchange Arg130Gln) in 261 patients with GD.

[Diagnosis and treatment of thyroid nodules].

The paper presents current diagnostic and therapeutic approach of thyroid nodules. TSH and iodine are the main goitrogenic agents, but there are also other auto- para-endocrinal factors that play very important roles in goiter growth as well as in the intrinsic growth potential of some thyroid follicular cells. The diagnosis of thyroid nodule demands further investigation such as thyroid function evaluation and distinction between benign from malignant nodules using FNAB.