Possible new biomarkers to predict the recurrence and ophthalmopathy in patients with graves'

Purpose: Graves' disease (GD) is an antibody-mediated autoimmune thyroid disease characterized by hyperthyroidism and diffuse goiter. This study aimed to investigate the efficiency of novel biomarkers in the follow-up of Graves' disease (GD) by focusing on the expression of selected microRNAs (miRNAs).Materials and methods: Patients who were diagnosed with GD were included in this study. Expression levels of selected miRNAs were measured in both patients with GD (Group 1) and healthy controls (Group 2) by the real-time PCR method. The levels were compared between these two groups. The presence of ophthalmopathy and relapse was assessed and any effect of miRNA expression levels on those clinical parameters was evaluated.Results: There were 30 patients in each group. There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of the expression levels of selected miRNAs. However, there was a significant difference between the miR-154 expression levels of the patients with and without relapse (p=0.035).Conclusion: As per these results, miR-154 can be considered a predictor of disease relapse in the setting of GD. Further studies including larger newly diagnosed and untreated GD patient populations are needed to support this hypothesis.