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Elevated Levels of Circulating Carcinoembryonic Antigen in Hypothyroidism ^*

Central Laboratory for Clinical Investigation Osaka, Japan
The Second Department of Surgery Osaka, Japan
Department of Medicine and Geriatrics Osaka, Japan
Osaka University Hospital, and Osaka Kessei Laboratory Osaka, Japan

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Nobuyuki Amino, M. D., The Central Laboratory for Clinical Investigation, Osaka University Hospital, 1–1–50 Fukushima, Fukushima-ku, Osaka 553, Japan.

The level of circulating carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) was measured in 148 patients with various thyroid diseases. A significantly high frequency of positive CEA was observed in hypothyroid patients with Hashimoto's disease, but the serum CEA levels were not correlated with the serum calcitonin concentrations in Hashimoto's disease. The CEA levels were inversely correlated with the serum T⁴ concentrations (P < 0.001) and were positively correlated with the serum TSH concentrations (P <0.001), but not with the titers of serum antithyroid antibodies or the size of goiter in autoimmune thyroid disease. Moreover, the increase in CEA was significantly related to the duration of hypothyroidism (P < 0.001). The high CEA levels in all hypothyroid patients decreased when theinsulin deficiency in addition to insulin resistance, the level of plasma glucose rises and the patient develops diabetes mellitus. patients attained a euthyroid state after thyroid hormone therapy for 4–9 months. The gradual decrease in the serum CEA levels during treatment was roughly correlated with the decreases in serum cholesterol concentration and serum lactic dehydrogenase and glutamic oxalacetic transaminase activities. On Sephadex G-200 column chromatography of serum from hypothyroid patients, the CEA immunoreactivity, like purified standard CEA, was recovered in the large molecular weight fraction. These findings indicate that elevated CEA levels in hypothyroid patients do not necessarily indicate malignancy. CEA elevation in hypothyroidism may be caused by decreased degradation of CEA

^* This work was supported by a Research Grant for Specific Diseases from the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan and a grant from the Yamanouchi Foundation for Research on Metabolic Disorders.

Received June 5, 1980.

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