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TAGE HJORT, ULRIK BIRK LAURIDSEN, IB PERSSON, Thyroglobulin-like Substances with Low Iodine Content in the Serum of Patients Receiving Antithyroid Therapy, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 30, Issue 4, 1 April 1970, Pages 520–523, https://doi.org/10.1210/jcem-30-4-520
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Abstract
Serum from 47 treated hyperthyroid patients was investigated for thyroglobulin using a “reversed” hemagglutination technique with erythrocytes coated with a highly purified thyroglobulin antibody. Thyroglobulin activity was demonstrated by this means in the serum of only 2 out of 18 patients who had previously undergone subtotal thyroidectomy, but in the serum of 11 out of 18 patients who were receiving antithyroid drugs [including 10 out of the 11 receiving methylthiouracil (MTU)] and in that of 5 out of 11 patients who had previously received antithyroid drugs. Experiments using Sephadex filtration and ultracentrifugation in sucrose gradient would suggest that the agglutinating substance in the serum of patients receiving MTU has a molecular weight of the same order as that of thyroglobulin, but the serum concentrations of protein-bound iodine (PBI) revealed that the iodine content of this thyroglobulin-like substance must—at least in some cases—be considerably lower than that normally found in thyroglobulin. It is discussed whether the presence of this protein and particularly its metabolites might not provide an explanation for the low PBI concentrations which are occasionally seen in patients who have become euthyroid during treatment with antithyroid drugs.