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This version published online on April 26, 2005
Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, doi:10.1210/jc.2004-2184
A more recent version of this article appeared on July 1, 2005
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*Compound via MeSH
*Substance via MeSH

Submitted on November 5, 2004
Accepted on April 15, 2005

MEDIAN EMINENCE DOPAMINERGIC NERVE TERMINALS, A NOVEL TARGET IN AUTOIMMUNE POLYENDOCRINE SYNDROME?

Cristina Cocco PhD, Antonella Meloni MD, Francesco Boi MD, Giovanni Pinna MD, Roberta Possenti BSc, Stefano Mariotti MD, and Gian-Luca Ferri MD*

NEF-Laboratory, Dept. Cytomorphology, and Endocrinology, Dept. Medical Science, University of Cagliari at Monserrato, Monserrato (Cagliari), Italy; Clinica Pediatrica II, Dept. Biomedical Biotechnological Science, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy; Dept. Neuroscience, Tor Vergata University, Rome, Italy

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ferri{at}unica.it.

Context. Autoantibodies to adenohypophyseal endocrine cells, or to vasopressin neurohypophyseal neurons have long been known. Conversely, autoimmune targeting of further hypothalamic-hypophyseal structures, such as the blood-brain barrier deprived median eminence has been little studied.

Objective and methods. We studied a case of autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type I (APS I) with GH secretory deficiency, a distinctly rare event in APS I. We used rat and bovine tissue substrates to study autoantibodies against hypothalamic-hypophyseal nerve structures and endocrine cells.

Results. In the study case, circulating autoantibodies selectively decorated median eminence dopaminergic nerve terminals, as well as pituitary gonadotropes, but not GHRH-nerve terminals, nor pituitary somatotropes. Such autoantibodies appeared de novo in parallel with the onset of GH secretory deficiency, while no median eminence labeling was found in patients suffering of idiopathic GH deficiency (n = 7), nor in healthy controls (n = 23).

Conclusions. The pathophysiological significance of our patient's autoantibodies remains to be confirmed. None the less, the heterogeneous neuroendocrine structures of the median eminence are pointed out as potential immune targets, relevant to autoimmune polyendocrinopathy, as well as to a wide range of other conditions.
Key words: hypothalamus • median eminence • pituitary • dopamine • autoimmunity • APS I • APECED




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