Objective
Evaluate Melatonin, circadian clock genes; brain and muscle aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator-like 1 (BMAL-1), Period 2 (PER2) & nuclear factor kabba B (NF-Kb), sirtuin 1 (SIRT-1), Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) genes expression and vitamin D in Egyptian patients with Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT). Methods: 240 Egyptian volunteers (Egyptian healthy females and Egyptian females with HT). All participants were susceptible to laboratory investigations including and gene expressions.
Results
The current study revealed increased serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (anti TPO-Ab) and anti- thyroglobulin antibody (anti Tg-Ab) in the HT group. On the other hand, decreased serum concentration of melatonin, vitamin D, free tetraiodothyronine (FT4), free triiodothyronine (FT3), ionized calcium & blood hemoglobin in the HT group. Also, our results revealed that the gene expression of the BMAL-1, PER2 and SIRT-1 were downregulated in the HT group. On the contrary, the levels of gene expression of NF-kB, TLR-4,TNF-α genes were upregulated in the HT group.
Conclusions
We concluded that there is an association between HT and circadian rhythms approved by downregulation of Bmal-1 and PER2 genes expression Also, it may lead to an inflammatory response and oxidative stress. The significant decrease of serum melatonin levels in HT patients, strongly suggests an association between the melatonin pathway and HT. So, Melatonin may be recommended as supplementation for HT patients.