Basic Science Research – American Thyroid Association

Trainee Journal Club Volunteer Form

Sharleene Cano — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 15:36:23 +0000

Trainee Journal Club Volunteer Form

Are you interested in presenting a Thyroid paper for the ATA’s new trainee and early career journal club? We have identified three high impact papers published in the Thyroid journal and are looking for individuals that would be willing to help us present the papers during a future Career Connections Meetup. We will be pairing 2 trainee presenters and an expert ATA member who will serve as a moderator. The moderator will provide insight into how this paper fits into the current landscape and field, either clinically or scientifically.

If you are a trainee or early career professional and interested in presenting one of the papers listed below please complete this form.

Questions? Email trainees@thyroid.org

Papers:

Exogenous 3-Iodothyronamine Rescues the Entorhinal Cortex from beta-Amyloid Toxicity:

A novel form of thyroid hormone (TH) signaling is represented by 3-iodothyronamine, an endogenous TH derivative that interacts with specific molecular targets, including the trace amine-associated receptor 1 (T1AM), and induces pro-learning and anti-amnestic effects in mice. This represents a novel signaling pathway linked to memory and loss of memory. Dysregulation of TH signaling has long been hypothesized to play a role in Alzheimer’s disease. In this study, the authors explored the neuroprotective role of T₁AM in beta amyloid (Aβ)-induced synaptic and behavioral impairment, focusing on a specific area within the brain that is affected early in Alzheimer’s Disease pathology and progression.

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/thy.2019.0255

Dissecting Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma: A Comprehensive Clinical, Histologic, Immunophenotypic, and Molecular Study of 360 Cases:

This study the largest study to date to investigate and link the clinical, genetic and histological characteristics if Anaplastic thyroid cancer. The study is retrospective evaluating patients from two tertiary centers.

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/thy.2020.0086

Comprehensive Immune Profiling of Medullary Thyroid Cancer:

This study is the first one to comprehensively investigate and define the immune milieu, immune-suppressive molecules and tumor antigens in MTC patients. 46 patients were evaluated in the study, finding robust infiltration of CD8+ T cells and macrophages in these tumors and metastatic lesions. This study identifies and describes how immune modulatory therapies may be a novel approach for treatment of MTC including potential for developing adoptive T cell therapies to treat MTC.

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/thy.2019.0604

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Research Grant to Identify the Source and Mechanism of Thyroid and Kidney Comorbidity Is Awarded to Nicholas Tardi, PhD, by the American Thyroid Association

ATA — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 21:33:02 +0000

Nicholas J. Tardi,Ph.D.
Rush University Medical Center
Chicago, IL Bio

The American Thyroid Association has awarded a 2018 Research Grant to Nicholas J. Tardi, PhD, Instructor in Internal Medicine at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Dr. Tardi’s project is titled “Deiodinase 3: A Thyroid Hormone-Associated Renoprotective Protein.”

The long-term goal of this project is to identify the source and mechanism of kidney and thyroid comorbidity. Thyroid hormone (TH) is a circulating, lipid-soluble molecule that plays an important physiological and developmental role in nearly all cells. Accordingly, precise control of TH activity is crucial to maintain metabolic homeostasis in several tissues.

Scientists have known for 30 years about the interplay between kidney disease and TH disorders, yet the underlying mechanism that links these two diseases has yet to be defined. Studying the effect of poor enzyme regulation of TH activity in the kidney may identify a causative disease mechanism. Dr. Tardi’s lab has previously shown that deiodinase 3 (D3), an enzyme that deactivates TH, is highly expressed in podocytes, which wrap around the capillaries of kidney filtration units and filter toxins from blood. This suggests that low TH activity is required for proper podocyte function. Mature podocytes cannot divide and cannot be replaced, so it is especially important that they continue to function properly. Unfortunately, they are a primary target of kidney disease. D3-deficient podocytes are more susceptible to injury, indicating that TH stability is important in preventing kidney disease.

Dr. Tardi’s laboratory will study the local effect of TH imbalance in both cell and mouse models to determine how D3 protects podocytes from injury. Additionally, they will define the prevalence of D3 misexpression in patients suffering from various kidney diseases. Identifying a local regulatory mechanism causing TH metabolism dysfunction will aid in developing targeted therapies to combat kidney and/or thyroid diseases that share a disease source.

Patients with hyperthyroidism show increased kidney filtration pressure and absorption capacity, while those with hypothyroidism show thickening of the glomerular basement membrane and reduced filtration rate. Despite the prevalence of overlapping complications of thyroid hormone disorders and kidney disease, a unifying mechanism regulating T₃ stability in the kidney is absent. Though well studied in endocrine tissues, the role of D3 in the regulation of thyroid hormone in renal tissue has not been addressed in the past. This study will use samples from clinical patients and representative disease models to define a therapeutic target.

Specifically, Dr. Tardi’s study will aim to:

Identify pathways associated with D3 dysfunction in podocytes: The laboratory will use microarray experiments to identify D3-responsive genes in podocytes and to screen potential activators and inactivators of D3. They will compare gene-expression profiles under healthy and injury-promoting conditions and set priorities to guide future studies of the signaling events that regulate D3 activity.
Establish the renoprotective mechanism of D3: The lab will use molecular biology-based experiments and morphological analysis to identify the mechanism by which D3 protects against podocyte injury. With confocal microscopy, they will examine cytoskeletal structure for hallmarks of podocyte injury. Protein analysis on known markers of podocyte health, metabolic processes, cellular stress, and protein trafficking will help to determine the mechanism of D3. They will correlate these cellular-level effects with the heavy proteinuria observed in D3-knockout mice models.
Define the prevalence of D3 misexpression in patients with kidney disease at single stages of its development: Dr. Tardi’s lab will analyze patient samples from the nephrology clinic at Rush University Medical Center to assess D3 as a potential biomarker for TH-associated kidney disease. They will use this data to develop studies targeting specific deiodinases to treat kidney disease. This is different from current therapeutic approaches that attempt to balance systemic TH levels to prevent the development of overlapping kidney disease.

Dr. Nicholas Tardi earned his PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology in 2013 from Illinois State University, where he developed expertise in cell signaling, molecular mechanisms of disease, protein biology, and analytical processing to answer questions about cellular regulation of growth control pathways. Since joining Rush University, he has been investigating the molecular mechanisms of thyroid hormone imbalance in kidney disease and characterizing pharmacologically active agents to rescue kidney disease in mice. Recently, he has worked closely with two mentors to develop a niche to study kidney and thyroid comorbidity. Dr. Tardi’s passion for research, scientific expertise, and unusual technical perspective is reflected in publications in Nature Medicine, Science, Cell, and Genetics.

Dr. Antonio Di Cristofano, Chair, ATA Research Committee, says, “The ATA research grant program represents a unique and invaluable mechanism to foster the development of a new generation of basic, translational, and clinical researchers. Through this program, we allow these outstanding young scientists to test innovative hypotheses and generate preliminary data that will give them a significant competitive advantage when applying for traditional NIH-type funding.

This year we received 63 applications from 18 countries, spanning the whole spectrum of thyroid-related research. While, through a rigorous process, we have selected the most promising projects for funding, at the same time we regret we had to leave behind a number of excellent proposals. We are extremely thankful for the support we receive from members and organizations, including thyroid cancer survivors, which makes this outstanding program possible and allows the ATA to nurture the next generation of leaders in thyroidology.”

The American Thyroid Association (ATA) has awarded 99 thyroid research grants totaling over $2.8 million since the inception of the Research Fund. In addition, the ATA rigorously manages the selection of research projects and the distribution of over $1.8 million generously donated to the ATA specifically for research grants from: ThyCa, the Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc.; Bite Me Cancer; and the Thyroid Head and Neck Cancer Foundation.

The Thyroid Cancer Survivors’ Association, Inc. (ThyCa), has provided funding since 2003 in support of 72.5 special research grants totaling $2,084,375 focused on thyroid cancer and medullary thyroid cancer. In 2018 ThyCa is supporting half of a new medullary thyroid cancer grant with Bite Me Cancer, two new thyroid cancer research grants, and four renewing grants. ThyCa is a member of the ATA Alliance for Patient Education. Find out more at www.thyca.org.

Bite Me Cancer (BMC) is our newest grant funder, supporting 8.5 thyroid cancer grants since 2014 for a total of $201,250. BMC will be supporting a half of a new medullary thyroid cancer grant in 2018 with ThyCa and one renewing thyroid cancer grant. BMC is a member of the ATA Alliance for Patient Education. Find out more at www.bitemecancer.org.

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The American Thyroid Association (ATA) is the leading worldwide organization dedicated to the advancement, understanding, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of thyroid disorders and thyroid cancer. ATA is an international, individual membership organization for over 1,700 clinicians and researchers from 43 countries around the world, representing a broad diversity of medical disciplines. It also serves the public, patients, and their families through education and awareness efforts.

Celebrating its 95th anniversary, ATA delivers its mission through several key endeavors: the publication of highly regarded monthly journals, Thyroid^®, Clinical Thyroidology^®, VideoEndocrinology, and Clinical Thyroidology for the Public; annual scientific meetings; biennial clinical and research symposia; research grant programs for young investigators; support of online professional, public, and patient educational programs; and the development of guidelines for clinical management of thyroid disease.

Find out more about ATA at www.thyroid.org.

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Research Grant Focused on Identifying T3-Forming Sites in Thyroglobulin Is Awarded to Cintia Eliana Citterio, PhD, by the American Thyroid Association

ATA — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 21:31:24 +0000

Cintia Eliana Citterio, Ph.D.
Instituto de Inmunología, Genética y Metabolismo (INIGEM),
Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) –
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Bio

The American Thyroid Association has awarded a 2018 Research Grant to Cintia Eliana Citterio, PhD, Assistant Professor of Genetics and Molecular Biology at the Instituto de Inmunología, Genética y Metabolismo (INIGEM), Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) – Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET). Dr. Citterio’s project is called “De novo triiodothyronine (T₃) formation in T₃ toxicosis of Graves’ Disease.”

The project focuses on identifying T₃-forming sites in thyroglobulin (TG, the protein from which thyroid hormone is made) that are responsible for excess T₃ production in patients with autoimmune hyperthyroidism or Graves’ Disease (GD). The long-term objectives are:

To dissect the molecular mechanisms that underlie de novo T₃ synthesis in GD and in other thyroid conditions that are characterized by hyperactive thyroid TSH-receptors and preferential T₃ formation within thyroglobulin
To understand these mechanisms
To develop treatments that will repair them, if possible

Although thyroid hormone is perhaps the smallest chemical hormone known, the TG protein is a very large, complex molecule that has been very difficult to understand. Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) stimulates synthesis of the hormone by binding to a receptor (called TSH-receptor), which triggers many responses in the thyroid gland, including making more of the active thyroid hormone called T₃. For reasons yet to be discovered, the TG protein sometimes makes too much T₃, causing the anxiety, irritability, weight loss, enlargement of the thyroid gland, bulging eyes, and/or other symptoms that combine to indicate Graves’ Disease or related diseases.

Dr. Citterio proposes that, when TSH stimulates the thyroid gland, the TG protein structure is modified by a special enzyme that increases the ability of TG to make T₃. She has evidence that this special enzyme, named Fam20C, can add a phosphate residue at a particular site on the TG molecule, changing its structure. Increasing the amount of Fam20C in thyroid cells results in those cells making a TG protein that produces more T₃; inhibiting the enzyme results in less T₃ production. In GD, the stimulated thyroid gland makes more of the Fam20C enzyme; Dr. Citterio believes this is why patients end up with too much T₃ in their blood.

This project will attempt to find the specific location on the TG molecule where the extra T₃is released, which is likely from one of three sites. Using mutagenesis to eliminate each of those sites one at a time, Dr. Citterio will then test the TG protein to see whether it still makes more T₃ in cells that express more of the Fam20C enzyme, or in thyroid cells stimulated with a lot of TSH. The long-term objective is to understand, at a molecular level, why patients with Graves’ disease (and some other diseases) make too much T₃.

Dr. Citterio received her undergraduate degree from the UBA with a double major in biochemistry (Certificate of Honor) and pharmaceutical sciences. Her interest in thyroid function and disease began during her PhD research (completed in 2014, Summa Cum Laude) under the direction of Dr. Héctor M. Targovnik at the UBA. She has since published her research in 16 publications. In 2014, she was named a Fulbright Scholar to conduct postdoctoral studies in Dr. Peter Arvan’s lab at the University of Michigan, where she developed a new assay to measure de novo T₃ formation within thyroglobulin secreted from hyperstimulated thyrocytes (Citterio et al., 2017) and characterized the molecular mechanisms of T₃ formation at the antepenultimate tyrosine residue of thyroglobulin (Citterio et al., 2018).

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Find out more about ATA at www.thyroid.org.

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Research Grant to Determine How Specific Drugs Work or Fail in Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer Is Awarded to Miles Miller, PhD, by the American Thyroid Association

ATA — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 21:29:59 +0000

Miles Miller, PhD
Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA
Bio

The American Thyroid Association has awarded a 2018 Research Grant to Miles Miller, PhD, principal investigator at the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Systems Biology and Assistant Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Miller’s research project is titled “Co-opting tumor-associated macrophages in anaplastic thyroid cancer to enhance immune-checkpoint blockade response.”

Treatment of advanced metastatic cancer has seen a revolution over the last several years, as new therapeutic strategies have become successful at harnessing the power of the immune system to durably attack malignant and mutated cancer cells. Immune-checkpoint blockade therapies targeting programmed-death 1 (PD1) signaling on T-cells have been successful in the treatment of solid cancers, including heavily mutated melanomas and lung cancers. Unfortunately, these treatments only work in a fraction of patients, and resistance is often associated with the presence of a type of tumor-promoting immune cell: the tumor-associated macrophage. Highly aggressive anaplastic thyroid cancers (ATC) can contain extremely high levels of these macrophages, which may be why drug resistance is so common in these cancers.

Although ATC represents less than 10% of thyroid malignancies worldwide, it contributes to a disproportionately high fraction of deaths from thyroid cancer, ranging from 15 to 50% by some estimates. Ongoing clinical trials are testing PD1-targeted immunotherapy, but initial indications suggest large numbers of patients will not see durable responses. Thus, a clear need exists to understand the mechanisms: Why doesn’t ATC respond better to immune-checkpoint blockade or to other advanced biologic therapies? New strategies against the disease are urgently needed.

This project will bring together new techniques for simultaneously imaging the delivery and action of biologics in tumors in vivo, combined with expertise in mouse models of metastatic thyroid cancer, to offer fundamental, mechanistic knowledge of how specific drugs work or fail in ATC. Strikingly little is known about how much of a given drug accumulates in ATC, what the heterogeneity of drug accumulation is across primary tumors and metastases, and how drug exposure ultimately impacts response or nonresponse.

Dr. Miller’s laboratory recently discovered that tumor-associated macrophages critically influence the delivery and action of biologic therapies (including PD1-targeted drugs) and may be co-opted to synergistically improve drug response. ATC shows special promise for this approach, as macrophages outnumber tumor cells themselves in some ATC cases. New unpublished findings reveal ATC-macrophage content can increase substantially with targeted therapy. Dr. Miller’s approach promises to clarify the relationships between drug exposure and trajectories of cell response or resistance, which are monitored over time using fluorescent readouts of immune activity and tumor-cell killing. Dr. Miller hypothesizes that variability in local macrophage levels will play a key role in mediated drug response, especially at sites of metastasis, and aims to test whether combination treatments can repurpose macrophages for enhancing treatment efficacy.

This project will leverage the recent discoveries of Miller’s lab into the function and therapeutic potential of tumor-associated macrophages, along with expertise and compelling new observations from Sareh Parangi, MD, Director of the MGH Thyroid Cancer Research Laboratory, who for over a decade has developed and tested treatment strategies in an impressive array of advanced, preclinical, metastatic thyroid cancer models.

In addition to serving as a principal investigator at the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Systems Biology and Assistant Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Miller is also a faculty member of the Harvard Bioinformatics and Integrative Genomics PhD Program. For the last 10 years he has developed new approaches and technologies for parsing mechanisms of drug action and cancer behavior in disease microenvironments from a quantitative, network-level perspective. He has extensive training and publications in computational modeling, multivariate statistics, in vivo microscopy, nanotechnology, and cancer pharmacology. As an NIH-funded postdoctoral fellow, he developed new techniques for imaging the in vivo transport, cellular uptake, and pharmacodynamics of novel chemotherapeutic formulations at a single-cell level within live tumor models. Dr. Miller received a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Biological Engineering. He graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University.

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Find out more about ATA at www.thyroid.org.

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Research Grant to Study the Action of T-Regulatory Cells in Thyroid-Antibody-Positive Pregnant Women Awarded to Stephanie Behringer-Massera, MD, by the American Thyroid Association

ATA — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 21:26:37 +0000

Stephanie Behringer-Massera, MD
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
New York, NY
Bio

The American Thyroid Association has awarded a 2018 Research Grant to Stephanie Behringer-Massera, MD, Clinical Fellow at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Behringer-Massera’s project is titled “T regulatory cells in thyroid-antibody-positive pregnant women.”

A fetus, which shares half its genetic material with the father, is considered a foreign body in the mother’s womb. The only way that it can implant in the uterus without being rejected is if the mother’s immune system is suppressed, which happens through T-regulatory-cell action. The more T regulatory cells (Tregs) are released, the more the immune system is suppressed and the more likely the pregnancy can successfully be brought to term. In women with autoimmune thyroid disease, this process is disrupted. These women are found to have an abnormal Treg response to pregnancy and have Treg levels as low as women who are not pregnant. They are more likely to have miscarriages in the first trimester.

Through this project, Dr. Behringer-Massera hopes to understand the underlying pathology in this immune response to the fetus, enabling the development of targeted therapies to prevent these miscarriages. She plans to measure the proportion of Tregs in pregnant women during each trimester and in those who are 6-weeks postpartum, comparing the proportions in thyroid-antibody-positive versus thyroid-antibody-negative women, as well as in a control group of normal nonpregnant women. Her laboratory will also examine the functional status of Treg cells in both normal and thyroid-antibody positive women during pregnancy to determine their effectiveness at immune control. They will also analyze the Treg cells isolated from the control group and from the antibody-positive women to evaluate clonal expansion during and after pregnancy.

Dr. Behringer-Massera’s previous studies of patients with increased thyroid autoantibodies during the first trimester of pregnancy demonstrated the increased rate of miscarriage and led to her proposed further studies.

Dr. Behringer-Massera completed her medical studies at the University of Heidelberg in Germany in December 2009. She continued her medical training as a resident in Internal Medicine at the St. Josef Hospital in Heidelberg. In 2011 she was accepted for a residency in Internal Medicine at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York. She successfully completed her Internal Medicine training in 2014 and was awarded a research fellowship in the Empire Clinical Research Investigator Program (ECRIP) at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she joined a multi-center clinical trial on glycemia-reduction approaches in diabetes (GRADE) funded by the NIH. During this time she also conducted a qualitative study on barriers to enrollment into research studies. In 2016 she started training as a Clinical Fellow in Endocrinology at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. When she completes her fellowship in June 2018, she will begin a position as Assistant Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai with clinical duties at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center.

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Celebrating its 95th anniversary, ATA delivers its mission through several key endeavors: the publication of highly regarded monthly journals, Thyroid®, Clinical Thyroidology®, VideoEndocrinology, and Clinical Thyroidology for the Public; annual scientific meetings; biennial clinical and research symposia; research grant programs for young investigators; support of online professional, public, and patient educational programs; and the development of guidelines for clinical management of thyroid disease.

Find out more about ATA at www.thyroid.org.

The post Research Grant to Study the Action of T-Regulatory Cells in Thyroid-Antibody-Positive Pregnant Women Awarded to Stephanie Behringer-Massera, MD, by the American Thyroid Association appeared first on American Thyroid Association.

15th International Thyroid Congress to Highlight Latest Advances in Research and Clinical Management of Thyroid Disease

ATA — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 19:53:35 +0000

Thursday Sessions – Day 5 – October 22

Renowned experts in thyroid function and biology, diagnosis and management of thyroid disease, and novel therapies for treating thyroid cancer will gather at the 15^th International Thyroid Congress (ITC) to present, discuss, and debate the latest advances in thyroidology. The ITC will take place October 18-23, 2015 at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Held every five years, the ITC is a collaborative meeting of the four world thyroid associations held every fifth year: ATA (American Thyroid Association), Asia-Oceania Thyroid Association (AOTA), European Thyroid Association (ETA), and Latin American Thyroid Society (LATS).

Two special lectures highlight the fifth day of programming at ITC, on Thursday, October 22. In the morning, Janete Maria Cerutti will deliver the Latin American Thyroid Association Prize Lecture, with an introduction by Rui Maciel. Delivering the European Thyroid Association Prize Lecture in the afternoon will be V. Krishna Chatterjee. On Friday, October 23, Sally E. Carty, to be introduced by Electron Kebebew, will deliver a Plenary Lecture entitled "Progress in the Surgical Management of Neoplasia and Hyperthyroidism.

The ITC Program Committee has scheduled a series of provocative Discussions/Debates on Thursday, Day Five of the Congress, one focusing on clinical topics and the other areas related to basic and translational research. The Clinical Discussions/Debates will explore a range of controversial topics: “Pharmacological and Destructive Therapies for Benign Nodules” with Laszlo Hegedus and Jeong Hyun Lee; “Controversies in the Treatment of Graves’ Disease in Children” with Scott Rivkees and Juliane Leger; “Optimal Ultrasound and Scintigraphy for Thyroid Cancer” with Jin Young Kwak and Markus Luster; “Minimizing Birth Defects after Use of Anti-Thyroid Drugs in Pregnancy” with Jorge H. Mestman and Bijay Vaidya; “Technique and Extent of Lymph Node Dissection for Thyroid Cancer” with Zvonimir Luka Milas and Ashok Shaha.

Thursday’s Basic/Translational Discussions/Debates will feature the following topics and participants: "New Molecular Drivers in Thyroid Cancer" with Mingzhao Xing and Minho Shong; "Negative Regulation of Target Genes by TH" with Fredrick Wondisford; "Genetics of Thyroid Development" with Roberto di Lauro; "Selenium and the Thyroid: International Studies and Experiences" with Bingyin Shi and Kristian Winther; and "Key Steps in Thyroglobulin Iodination and Thyroid Hormonogenesis" with Juan Pablo Nicola and Peter Arvan.

Symposiums on an array of timely topics chaired by international experts and featuring leading researchers and clinicians invited to share their knowledge and experiences will take place throughout the day on Thursday. Beginning with the Early Riser Symposium, Chairs Josef Koehrle and Manisha Shah have organized a session entitled ”Update on Differentiated Thyroid Cancer–Molecular Mechanisms and Treatment" featuring Haixia Guan speaking on Altered Cell Metabolism in Thyroid Cancer; Laura Ward on Targeting the Thyroid CAncer Microenvironment; Marcia Brose on Single or Combination Targeted Therapy?; and Matthew Ringle on "Comparison of Latest Guidelines on Differentiated Thyroid Cancer."

Continuing on Thursday morning at ITC will be four symposia taking place in parallel sessions. The Case-Based Symposium entitled ”International Perspectives on Treatment of Graves’ Disease" led by Moderator David S. Cooper will feature Won Bae Kim from AOTA, Ana Luisa Maia from LATS, Helena Filipsson Nystrom from ETA, and M. Regina Castro from ATA.

The symposium “Target Tissue Responses to Thyroid Hormone, “ organized by Chairs Carmen Pazos de Moura and Donald St. Germain, will feature presentations by Tania Ortiga on the Hypothalamic Pituitary Axis; Anthony Hollenberg on the Role of Co-Factors in TR and Tissue-Selective Thyroid Hormone Action; and Cecilia H.A. Gouveia on the Skeleton.

Chairs Gregory Brent and Noriyuki Koibuchi will lead the symposium “Thyroid Hormone Axis–A Target for Endocrine Disrupting Compounds (EDC),” with presenters Josef Köhrle speaking on Novel Non-Radioactive Screening Assays for Testing EDC Action; Barbara Anne Demeneix on Thyroid Disrupting Effects of Chemicals Found in Human Amniotic Fluid; and Angela Leung on Perchlorate and the Thyroid Axis in Human Pregnancy and Lactation.

In the symposium called "Emerging Approaches to Papillary Microcarcinoma Management" Chairs Leonidas Duntas and Akira Miyauchi present speakers Anna M. Sawka on the topic of Epidemiology; Yasuhiro Ito on Active Surveillance; and Fabian Pitoia on Risk Factors for Persistent and Recurrent Disease.

ITC’s Thursday afternoon program will feature an additional set of four symposia on various highly relevant topics including “IgG4-Related Sclerosing Disease and the Thyroid” with Chairs Marius Stan and Mitsuyasu Itoh, in which Arezou Khosroshahi will give a Clinical Overview of IgG4-Related Sclerosing Disease; Kennichi Kakudo will present IgG4 in Thyroiditis in Hashimoto’s and Reidel’s; and James Garrity will speak on Graves’ Orbitopathy and IgG4 Ocular Disease.

Exploring the ”Non-Genomic Actions of TH" will be session Chairs Riccardo Zucchi and Claudia Pellizas, with an Overview to be presented by Karine Gauthier; a talk on Nuclear Receptor Mediated Non-Genomic Actions by Lars C. Moeller; and a presentation on "Membrane Reception Mediated Non-Genomic Actions by Maria Tereza Nunes.

The Thursday afternoon symposia at ITC will also include a session entitled “Longevity in Thyroid Status.” Joining Chairs Patricia de Fatima dos Santos Teixeira and Anne Cappola are presenters Denise Zwanziger discussing Animal Studies on Thyroid and Aging; Bjorn Olav Asvold speaking on Survival Data from Epidemiologic Studies; and Laura Boucai focusing on TSH Thresholds for Therapy. The symposium “Novel Therapies for Thyroid Autoimmune Diseases” led by Chairs Takashi Akamizu and Terry F. Davies will include presentations on Small Molecule TSHR Antagonists by Marvin C. Gershengorn; Blocking Antigen Presentation by Yaron Tomer; and Future Therapeutic Targets in Graves’ Orbitopathy by Wilmar M. Wiersinga.

The ITC Program Organizing Committee (POC) has invited renowned international thyroid experts for every symposium and discussion/debate. The POC has designed this ITC to highlight and involve young investigators from around the world. The American Thyroid Association (ATA) will continue to promote the E. Chester Ridgway Trainee Conference with a unique and focused track for trainees; participation includes accommodations and complimentary registration for a limited number of applicants who are first authors on accepted abstracts. The four international thyroid associations combine their efforts to contribute to this one of a kind, state-of-the-science experience! Don’t miss this “top of the mark” collegial event.

Hosted by the ATA, the ITC will bring together the international community of thyroid researchers and clinicians to present and discuss the latest advances and controversies in thyroidology. The ATA and its annual meetings are well known and well regarded by all those devoted to thyroid biology and to the prevention and treatment of thyroid disease through excellence in research, clinical care, education, and public health.

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The American Thyroid Association (ATA) is the leading worldwide organization dedicated to the advancement, understanding, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of thyroid disorders and thyroid cancer. ATA is an international membership medical society with over 1,700 members from 43 countries around the world. Celebrating its 92^ndanniversary, the ATA delivers its mission — of being devoted to thyroid biology and to the prevention and treatment of thyroid disease through excellence in research, clinical care, education, and public health — through several key endeavors: the publication of highly regarded professional journals, Thyroid, Clinical Thyroidology, and VideoEndocrinology; annual scientific meetings; biennial clinical and research symposia; research grant programs for young investigators, support of online professional, public and patient educational programs; and the development of guidelines for clinical management of thyroid disease and thyroid cancer. The ATA promotes thyroid awareness and information through its online Clinical Thyroidology for the Public (distributed free of charge to over 11,000 patients and public subscribers) and extensive, authoritative explanations of thyroid disease and thyroid cancer in both English and Spanish. The ATA website serves as the clinical resource for patients and the public who look for reliable information on the Internet. Every fifth year, the American Thyroid Association joins with the Latin American Thyroid Society, the European Thyroid Association, and the Asia and Oceania Thyroid Association to co-sponsor the International Thyroid Congress (ITC). This year the ITC is hosted by the American Thyroid Association at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort. More information about the 15^th ITC can be found at http://www.thyroid.org/itc2015/.

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World Renowned Experts to Participate in Symposia, Discussions and Debates at 15th International Thyroid Congress

ATA — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 19:47:10 +0000

Wednesday Sessions – Day Four – October 21

Featuring symposiums, panel discussions and debates, and Plenary Lectures led by renowned endocrinology specialists, surgeons, and other healthcare professionals and experts in thyroidology from around the world, the 15^th International Thyroid Congress (ITC) will take place October 18-23, 2015 at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The ITC, held every five years, is a collaborative meeting of the four world thyroid associations: ATA (American Thyroid Association), Asia-Oceania Thyroid Association (AOTA), European Thyroid Association (ETA), and Latin American Thyroid Society (LATS).

On Wednesday, October 21, Day Four of ITC will feature two Plenary Lectures: a morning presentation by Shigenobu Nagataki entitled “Radiation and the Thyroid: From Hiroshima/Nagasaki, Chernobyl to Fukushima,” with an introduction by Yoshiharu Murata; and an afternoon lecture by Samuel Refetoff, introduced by Roy Weiss, on Congenital Thyroid Disorders.

A series of lively Discussions/Debates on Wednesday will focus on either clinical topics or basic/translational areas of research. Announced topics and participants for the Clinical Discussions/Debates include: “Core and Fine Needle Biopsy: Pros and Cons” with Jung Hwan Baek and Teresa Cristina Santos Cavalcanti; “Technical and Clinical Pitfalls in Thyroglobulin Assays” with Carole Spencer and Cosimo Durante; “Drug-Induced Thyroid Dysfunction” with Leonidas Duntas and Sahzene Yavuz; “Remnant Ablation in Thyroid Cancer—Selective vs. Routine” with Sebastiano Filetti and Bryan McIver; and “Long-Term Consequences of Subclinical Hyperthyroidism” with Cristian Selmer and Bernadette Biondi.

Wednesday’s Basic/Translational Discussions/Debates will feature the following topics and participants: “Thyroid Function and Cognition Across the Life Span” with Fabio Monzani and Jacoba Bongers-Schokking; “Central Control of TH Availability” with Balázs Gereben; “Thyronamines and Other TH Metabolites” with Carolin S. Höfig and Pieter De Lange; “Central and Peripheral Control of Energy Expenditure by TH” with Eric Fliers”; and “Molecular Testing in Thyroid Nodules” with Ralf Paschke and Janete M. Cerutti.

Symposiums on a range of hot topics chaired by world experts in their fields and featuring leading researchers and clinicians invited to share their knowledge and experiences will take place throughout the day on Wednesday. Beginning with the Early Riser Symposium, Chairs Ling Zhang and Claudio Cernea have organized a session on “New Developments in Thyroid Surgery” featuring Kerstin Lorenz speaking on Nerve Monitoring; Woong Youn Chung on Remote Access Thyroid Surgery; and Saba Balasubramanian on Prevention and Treatment of Post-Surgical Hypoparathyroidism.

Morning symposia on Wednesday at ITC will include four parallel sessions. In the symposium called “Lessons from Animal Models of Thyroid Autoimmunity” Chairs Sun Wook Kim and Marian Ludgate will highlight the work of presenters J. Paul Banga on Graves’ Orbitopathy; Yuji Nagayama on Graves’ Disease; and Basil Rapoport on Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.

“Novel Actions of Thyroid Hormone on Metabolism,” led by Chairs Peter Kopp and Anja van Gucht, will include the following topics: TH Action in Control of Cardiovascular Function, presented by Jens Mittag; TH Action Control of Hepatic Cholesterol and Lipid Metabolism, by Paul Yen; and Deiodinase Mediated TH Action in the Liver, by Tatiana L. Fonseca.

The symposium entitled “Emerging Strategies in Pregnancy Screening for Thyroid Dysfunction,“ organized by Chairs Marcos Abalovich and Peter Laurberg, will feature presentations by Brian M. Casey on the NIH Pregnancy Study; Weiping Teng on the Chinese Screening Study (SHEP); and John H. Lazarus on Similarities and Differences in International Recommendations.

Chairs Pilar Santisteban and Tesuo Kondo will lead the symposium on “Genetics and Biomarkers of Thyroid Cancer,” with presenters Gisah A. Carvalho speaking on Is TSH a Risk Factor for Thyroid Cancer?; Carine Maenhaut on Molecular Profiling of Thyroid Neoplasms; and Antonio Di Cristofano on Genetic Models of Thyroid Cancer.

ITC’s Wednesday afternoon program will feature another set of four fascinating symposia including “Advances in the Treatment of Graves’ Orbitopathy” with Chairs Yushu Li and Wilmar Wiersinga and presentations by Claudio Marcocci on Selenium in Mild Graves’ Orbitopathy: What’s New?; George J. Kahaly on Optimal Use of Intravenous Steroids; and Peter Dolman on Orbital Surgery.

Exploring “The Role of TH in Stem Cell Renewal” will be session Chairs Arturo Hernandez and Heike Bieberman, with focused presentations on Intenstinal Epithelium by Michelina Plateroti; Neural Stem Cell Fate by Sylvie Remaud; Muscle Satellite Cells by Monica Dentice; and Pre-Adipocytes by Gregory A. Brent.

The Wednesday afternoon symposia at ITC will include a session entitled “Iodine Deficiency Throughout Life.” Joining Chairs Sun Lee and Elizabeth Pearce are presenters Zhongyan Shan discussing Pregnancy; Maria Andersson speaking on Childhood; and Eduardo Pretell focusing on Adults. The symposium “Controversies in Thyroid Surgery” led by Chairs Quan-yang Duh and Amy Chen targets two key areas: Routine or Selective Central Neck Dissection for Low-Risk PTC?, to be discussed by Hang-Seok Chang and Lisa Orloff; and Advantages and Disadvantages of Minimally Invasive Thyroidectomy, to be examined by Paolo Miccoli and Henning Dralle.

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The American Thyroid Association (ATA) is the leading worldwide organization dedicated to the advancement, understanding, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of thyroid disorders and thyroid cancer. ATA is an international membership medical society with over 1,700 members from 43 countries around the world. Celebrating its 92^nd anniversary, the ATA delivers its mission — of being devoted to thyroid biology and to the prevention and treatment of thyroid disease through excellence in research, clinical care, education, and public health — through several key endeavors: the publication of highly regarded professional journals, Thyroid, Clinical Thyroidology, and VideoEndocrinology; annual scientific meetings; biennial clinical and research symposia; research grant programs for young investigators, support of online professional, public and patient educational programs; and the development of guidelines for clinical management of thyroid disease and thyroid cancer. The ATA promotes thyroid awareness and information through its online Clinical Thyroidology for the Public (distributed free of charge to over 11,000 patients and public subscribers) and extensive, authoritative explanations of thyroid disease and thyroid cancer in both English and Spanish. The ATA website serves as the clinical resource for patients and the public who look for reliable information on the Internet. Every fifth year, the American Thyroid Association joins with the Latin American Thyroid Society, the European Thyroid Association, and the Asia and Oceania Thyroid Association to co-sponsor the International Thyroid Congress (ITC). This year the ITC is hosted by the American Thyroid Association at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort. More information about the 15^th ITC can be found at http://www.thyroid.org/itc2015/.

The post World Renowned Experts to Participate in Symposia, Discussions and Debates at 15th International Thyroid Congress appeared first on American Thyroid Association.

New Advances in Treating Thyroid Disease and Understanding Thyroid Function to be Highlighted at International Thyroid Congress

ATA — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 19:33:22 +0000

Tuesday Sessions – Day Three – October 20

Two special lectures highlight the third day of programming at ITC, on Tuesday, October 20. In the morning, Luigi Bartalena will deliver the Plenary Lecture entitled “Choice of Therapy for Graves’ Hyperthyroidism,” with an introduction by Furio Pacini. Delivering the AOTA Prize Lecture, “Toward Best Management of Thyroid Cancer” in the afternoon will be Akira Miyauchi, introduced by Takashi Akamizu.

The Women in Thyroidology Networking Meeting, with the theme “The Mentor Within” and led by Ofelia Olivero will take place Tuesday afternoon.

The ITC Program Committee has scheduled a series of provocative Discussions/Debates on Tuesday, Day Three of the Congress, one focusing on clinical topics and the other areas related to basic and translational research. The Clinical Discussions/Debates will explore a range of controversial topics: “How Reliable are Free Thyroid Hormone Assays?” with Stefan K.G. Grebe and Steve Soldin; “Rituximab Therapy for Graves’ Orbitopathy” with Mario Salvi and Marius N. Stan; “Maternal Isolated Hypothyroxinemia: What Do We Know and What Don’t We Know?” with Marco Medici and Chrysoula Dosiou; “Is it Possible to Improve Outcomes in Congenital Hypothyroidism?” with Stephen H. LaFranchi and Tone Torresani; “Emerging Concepts In The Management of Recurrent Thyroid Cancer” with Kenneth Burman and Enrico Papini.

Tuesday’s Basic/Translational Discussions/Debates will feature the following topics and participants: “Clinical and Basic Aspects of Bone Turnover by Thyroid Hormone” with John G. Logan and Bente Langdahl; “Roles of TSH from Pars Tuberalis and Pars Distalis” with Takashi Yoshimura; “Thyroid Function and Metabolic Syndrome” with Gabriela Brenta and Jiajun Zhao; “Deiodinases and Cancer” with Stephen A. Huang and Domenico Salvatore; and “TSHR Structure” with Jane Sanders and Ricardo Núñez Miguel.

Symposiums on an array of timely topics chaired by international experts and featuring leading researchers and clinicians invited to share their knowledge and experiences will take place throughout the day on Tuesday. Beginning with the Early Riser Symposium, Chairs Rossana Corbo and Andrew J. Bauer have organized a session entitled ” Differences Between Pediatric and Adult Differentiated Thyroid Cancer” featuring Sylvia L. Asa speaking on Thyroid Cancer Phenotypes; Cristoph Reiners on Approach to Radioiodine Treatment; Fernanda Vaisman on Thyroid Cancer Outcome; and Steven G. Waguespack on ” Thyroid Cancer Guidelines.”

Tuesday morning’s program continues with four parallel Oral Abstracts sessions. Two sessions will focus on Clinical topics, including “Thyroid Cancer Therapy and Outcomes” led by Chairs Duncan Topliss and Sara Ahmadi, and “Autoimmunity and Pregnancy” with Chairs Yasumasa Iwasaki and Maria Cabanillas. The Basic Oral Abstract sessions are entitled “Thyroid Signaling Metabolism and Action,” led by Chairs Sheue-yann Cheng and Juan Nicola, and “Thyroid Cancer Genetics/Genomics, with Chairs Rafaelle Ciampi and Rebecca Schweppe.

ITC’s Tuesday afternoon program will feature a set of four symposia on various highly relevant topics beginning with the “Clark T. Sawin Historical Vignettes” led by Moderator Leonard Wartofsky, in which Lewis E. Braverman will speak on the History of the ITC; Shigenobu Nagataki will discuss the History of AOTA; Eduardo Pretell will present LATS and Regional Thyroid Highlights; and Wilmar Wiersinga will share his Thoughts about the History of the ETA.

Exploring ”TH Metabolism –Translational Physiology” will be session Chairs Anne van der Spek and Salvatore Benvenga, with a talk on Genetic and Functional Variation in Type 2 Deiodinase to be presented by Elizabeth A. McAninch; a presentation on Animal Models of Non-Thyroidal Illness by Emmely de Vries; and a discussion of “Metabolism in Human NTI” by Greet van den Berghe.

The Tuesday afternoon symposia at ITC will also include a session entitled “Fetal Programming in Maternal Thyroid Disease.” Joining Daniel Glinoer and Joanne Rovet are presenters Juan Bernal discussing Thyroid Hormone and Brain Development; Georg Brabant speaking on Brain Morphological Changes in Children Born to Mothers with Hypothyroidism; and Stine Linding Andersen focusing on Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Children Born to Mothers with Thyroid Dysfunction.

The symposium “Emerging Genes and Pathways in Thyroid Cancer” led by Chairs Sissy Jhiang and Keith Bible will include presentations on Molecular Genetics of Thyroid Tumor Progression by Paula Soares; Genetics of Radiation-Associated Thyroid Cancer by Horst Zitzelsberger; and Molecular Determinants of Signaling and Differentiation in Thyroid Cancer by Pilar Santisteban.

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The American Thyroid Association (ATA) is the leading worldwide organization dedicated to the advancement, understanding, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of thyroid disorders and thyroid cancer. ATA is an international membership medical society with over 1,700 members from 43 countries around the world. Celebrating its 92^nd anniversary, the ATA delivers its mission — of being devoted to thyroid biology and to the prevention and treatment of thyroid disease through excellence in research, clinical care, education, and public health — through several key endeavors: the publication of highly regarded professional journals, Thyroid, Clinical Thyroidology, and VideoEndocrinology; annual scientific meetings; biennial clinical and research symposia; research grant programs for young investigators, support of online professional, public and patient educational programs; and the development of guidelines for clinical management of thyroid disease and thyroid cancer. The ATA promotes thyroid awareness and information through its online Clinical Thyroidology for the Public (distributed free of charge to over 11,000 patients and public subscribers) and extensive, authoritative explanations of thyroid disease and thyroid cancer in both English and Spanish. The ATA website serves as the clinical resource for patients and the public who look for reliable information on the Internet. Every fifth year, the American Thyroid Association joins with the Latin American Thyroid Society, the European Thyroid Association, and the Asia and Oceania Thyroid Association to co-sponsor the International Thyroid Congress (ITC). This year the ITC is hosted by the American Thyroid Association at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort. More information about the 15^th ITC can be found at http://www.thyroid.org/itc2015/.

The post New Advances in Treating Thyroid Disease and Understanding Thyroid Function to be Highlighted at International Thyroid Congress appeared first on American Thyroid Association.

American Thyroid Association Announces Prize Lectureship at International Thyroid Congress

ATA — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 18:28:56 +0000

Van Meter Awarded to Takashi Yoshimura, PhD

Monday, October 19, 2015 – 1:15 pm ET (embargoed) –

The American Thyroid Association (ATA) will present Takashi Yoshimura, Ph.D. with the 2015 Van Meter Award at the 85th Annual Meeting of the ATA, held in conjunction with the International Thyroid Congress, October 18-23, 2015, in Lake Buena Vista (Orlando), FL. Established in 1930, The Van Meter Award recognizes outstanding contributions by a young clinical scientist to research on the thyroid gland and hormones. The award recipient delivers the only ATA prize lecture this year, the Van Meter Award Lectureship, at the 15th International Thyroid Congress on Monday, October 19. Dr. Yoshimura’s talk is entitled “Novel roles for TSH and TH identified by discovery-driven approach”.

The Van Meter Award receives support from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers of the journal Thyroid.
Dr. Yoshimura’s remarkable contributions to thyroid research relate to a series of fascinating discoveries made in birds, mammals, and fish that link photoreceptors in the brain to thyroid hormone-based regulation of seasonal reproduction. He holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Sciences and is a Professor in the Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences and Director of the Avian Bioscience Research Center at University of Nagoya, Japan. Sparking Dr. Yoshimura’s interest in the thyroid and thyroid hormones was his seminal discovery in birds–published in Nature in 2003–that the light-induced conversion of thyroxine (T4) to triiodothyronine (T3) in the brain regulates gonadal activity as the days get longer and shorter. He then identified the molecular mechanism associated with this phenomenon, which involves the enzyme deiodinase 2, and went on to show that extended daylight induced the synthesis of the same enzyme in mammals, suggesting that the mechanism regulating seasonal reproduction had been conserved throughout evolution.

Systems biology analytical methods led to the unexpected finding in birds that thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) secreted from the pituitary gland is the “springtime hormone” that triggers expression of DIO2 ,the gene that controls deiodinase 2 production in the hypothalamus. Dr. Yoshimura then demonstrated that in mammals, TSH produced by the pituitary gland mediates the action of the pineal hormone melatonin, which had previously been shown to play a crucial role in regulating seasonal reproduction. More recently, Dr. Yoshimura’s group has uncovered the regulatory mechanism by which TSH secreted by two different compartments of the pituitary gland can carry out different regulatory activities without functional crosstalk.

Further pursuing this line of investigation, Dr. Yoshimura subsequently described the mechanism for seasonal regulation of TSH and DIO2 in fish, describing the physiological role of the saccus vasculosus as a seasonal sensor in fish.

This comprehensive body of work is likely to have a great impact on future research related to human reproductive health and mood disorders, such as seasonal affective disorder (also known as SAD or winter depression).

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The American Thyroid Association (ATA) is the leading worldwide organization dedicated to the advancement, understanding, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of thyroid disorders and thyroid cancer. ATA is an international membership medical society with over 1,700 members from 43 countries around the world. Celebrating its 92^ndanniversary, the ATA delivers its mission — of being devoted to thyroid biology and to the prevention and treatment of thyroid disease through excellence in research, clinical care, education, and public health — through several key endeavors: the publication of highly regarded professional journals, Thyroid, Clinical Thyroidology, and VideoEndocrinology; annual scientific meetings; biennial clinical and research symposia; research grant programs for young investigators, support of online professional, public and patient educational programs; and the development of guidelines for clinical management of thyroid disease and thyroid cancer. The ATA promotes thyroid awareness and information through its online Clinical Thyroidology for the Public (distributed free of charge to over 11,000 patients and public subscribers) and extensive, authoritative explanations of thyroid disease and thyroid cancer in both English and Spanish. The ATA website serves as the clinical resource for patients and the public who look for reliable information on the Internet. Every fifth year, the American Thyroid Association joins with the Latin American Thyroid Society, the European Thyroid Association, and the Asia and Oceania Thyroid Association to co-sponsor the International Thyroid Congress (ITC). This year the ITC is hosted by the American Thyroid Association at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort. More information about the 15^th ITC can be found at http://www.thyroid.org/itc2015/.

The post American Thyroid Association Announces Prize Lectureship at International Thyroid Congress appeared first on American Thyroid Association.

World Renowned Thyroid Experts Present New Research and Latest Treatment Practices at International Thyroid Congress

ATA — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 17:17:14 +0000

Monday Sessions – Day Two – October 19

Featuring symposia, panel discussions and debates, and Plenary Lectures led by renowned endocrinology specialists, surgeons, and other healthcare professionals and experts in thyroidology from around the world, the 15^thInternational Thyroid Congress (ITC) will take place October 18-23, 2015 at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The ITC, held every five years, is a collaborative meeting of the four world thyroid associations: ATA (American Thyroid Association), Asia & Oceania Thyroid Association (AOTA), European Thyroid Association (ETA), and Latin American Thyroid Society (LATS).

On Monday, October 19, Day Two of ICT will feature a morning Plenary Lecture entitled “Advancing Individualized Medicine with Public-Private Partnerships,” delivered by Bill Chin, with an introduction by Robert Smallridge. Highlights of the Monday afternoon program include the ATA Memorial for John B. Stanbury and presentation of the Stanbury Pathophysiology Medal to Sheue-yann Cheng. The winner of the 2015 ATA Van Meter Award will also be announced, and the recipient will deliver the Van Meter Award Lecture.

A series of lively Discussions/Debates on Monday will focus on either clinical topics or basic/translational areas of research. Announced topics and participants for the Clinical Discussions/Debates include: “A Case-based Discussion of International Hypothyroidism Guidelines” with Jacqueline Jonklaas, Glaucia Mazeto and Salman Razvi; “Targeted Therapy for Thyroid Cancer: When and What? with Steven I. Sherman and Johannes W.A. Smit; “Unusual Thyroid Function Tests” with Mark Vanderpump (moderator), Inge Pedersen, Brian W. Kim, Shu Wang and Helton Estrela Ramos; “Management of Thyroid Storm” with Henry B. Burch and Tetsurou Satoh; and “Is There a Role for Long-Term Anti-Thyroid Drug Therapy?” with Stig Andersen and Douglas S. Ross.

Monday’s Basic/Translational Discussions/Debates will feature the following topics and participants: “TSHR Activation and Its Impact on Body Composition and Graves’ Orbitopathy” with Marian Ludgate and Lei Zhang; “Oxidative Stress on Thyrocytes” with Denise Pires de Carvalho and Xavier De Deken; “Immunity and Thyroid Cancer: Prospects for Immune Therapy” with Carolin Lisa Zhang and Mabel Ryder; “Interactions Between Hypothalamic Pituitary Thyroid Axis and Other Pituitary Dysfunction” with Ulla Feldt-Rasmussen and Salvatore Benvenga; and “Vertebrate Models for Study of TH Action” with Luca Persani and Yun-Bo Shi.

Symposiums on a range of hot topics chaired by world experts in their fields and featuring leading researchers and clinicians invited to share their knowledge and experiences will take place throughout the day on Monday. Beginning with the Early Riser Symposium, Chairs Ana O. Hoff and Laura Fugazzola have organized a session on “New Modalities in the Treatment of Medullary Thyroid Cancer (MTC)” featuring Rui M.B. Maciel speaking on Molecular Mechanisms of MTC; Rossella Elisei on Targeted Therapeutic Agents for MTC; Barbara Jarzab on Management of Side Effects of Long-Term Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Treatment; and Samuel Wells providing an Update on MTC Guidelines.

Morning symposia on Monday at ITC will include four parallel sessions. In the symposium called “Nontraditional TSHR Signaling” Chairs Basil Rapoport and Syed Morshed will highlight the work of presenters Terry F. Davies on Selective TSHR Signaling by TSHR Antibodies; Susanne E. Neumann on TSHR-Arrestin-1 Mediated Pathways; and Terry J. Smith on TSHR-IGF-1 Interactions.

“TR Alpha Mutations – Bench to Bedside,” led by Chairs V. Krishna Chatterjee and Marcel Meima, will include the following topics: Animal Models presented by Sheue-yann Cheng; Treatment of Animal Models by J.H. Duncan Bassett; Human Mutations by Carla Moran; and Treatment of Patients by Robin Peeters.

The symposium entitled “New Concepts in the Management of Thyroid Nodules“ organized by Chairs Stephanie Fish and Finn Bennedbaek, will feature presentations by Shuhang Xu on Epidemiology of Benign Thyroid Nodules; Arthur B. Schneider on Who Should Be Screened for Thyroid Nodules?; and Susan J. Mandel on Follow-Up of Benign Nodules?

Chairs Edna Kimura and Ileana Gabriela de Rubio will lead the symposium on “Thyroid Cancer – Translating Basic Science Discoveries to the Clinic,” with presenters James A. Fagin speaking on Redifferentiation of RAI-Refractory Thyroid Cancer; Yuri Nikiforov on Somatic Mutations Analysis for Molecular Diagnosis; and Sophie Leboulleux on Targeted Therapy.

ITC’s Monday afternoon program will feature another set of four fascinating symposia including “Clinical Utility of Anti-Thyroid Antibody Measurements” with Chairs Patricia de Fatima dos Santos Teixeira and Yuji Hiromatsu and presentations by Alex Stagnaro-Green on Pregnancy; Mario Rotondi on Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis; and Eijun Nishihara on Graves’ Disease.

Exploring the topic “TH Transport” will be session Chairs Ulrich Schweizer and Grant Anderson, with focused presentations on Animal Models of TH Transporter Disease by Heike Heuer; Therapeutic Studies Using Animal Models by Alexandra Dumitrescu; Human TH Transporter Mutations by Theo J. Visser; and Clinical Trials in Allan Herndon Dudley Syndrome by Edward Visser.

The Monday afternoon symposia at ITC will include a session entitled “T4/T3 Combination Therapy for Hypothyroidism.” Joining Chairs Elizabeth Mcaninch and Birte Nygaard are presenters Colin M. Dayan discussing Do Patients Prefer T4/T3 Therapy, and Why?; Francesco Celi speaking on What is the Mechanism for Enhanced Weight Loss with T3?; and Anne R. Cappola focusing on Risks/Safety of Combination Therapy. The symposium “Prognostic Assessment of Thyroid Cancer” led by Chairs Mario Vaisman and Duncan Topliss targets three key areas: Functional Imaging, to be discussed by Byeong-Cheol Ahn; Clinical Risk Stratification, presented by Furio Pacini; and Real Time Prognostication, explored by R. Michael Tuttle.

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The American Thyroid Association (ATA) is the leading worldwide organization dedicated to the advancement, understanding, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of thyroid disorders and thyroid cancer. ATA is an international membership medical society with over 1,700 members from 43 countries around the world. Celebrating its 92^nd anniversary, the ATA delivers its mission — of being devoted to thyroid biology and to the prevention and treatment of thyroid disease through excellence in research, clinical care, education, and public health — through several key endeavors: the publication of highly regarded professional journals, Thyroid, Clinical Thyroidology, and VideoEndocrinology; annual scientific meetings; biennial clinical and research symposia; research grant programs for young investigators, support of online professional, public and patient educational programs; and the development of guidelines for clinical management of thyroid disease and thyroid cancer. The ATA promotes thyroid awareness and information through its online Clinical Thyroidology for the Public (distributed free of charge to over 11,000 patients and public subscribers) and extensive, authoritative explanations of thyroid disease and thyroid cancer in both English and Spanish. The ATA website serves as the clinical resource for patients and the public who look for reliable information on the Internet. Every fifth year, the American Thyroid Association joins with the Latin American Thyroid Society, the European Thyroid Association, and the Asia and Oceania Thyroid Association to co-sponsor the International Thyroid Congress (ITC). This year the ITC is hosted by the American Thyroid Association at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort. More information about the 15^th ITC can be found at http://www.thyroid.org/itc2015/.

The post World Renowned Thyroid Experts Present New Research and Latest Treatment Practices at International Thyroid Congress appeared first on American Thyroid Association.