PTX3: A Potential Biomarker in Thyroid Associated Ophthalmopathy

Thyroid associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) is an autoimmune disease, which involves inflammation and tissue remodeling. Pentraxin-3 (PTX3) is a component of innate immune system and recently implicated in autoimmunity. This observation may indicate that PTX3 participates in the inflammatory process of TAO.

Patients with TAO showed increased presence of PTX3 in orbital tissue and serum, which may suggest a potential relationship of PTX3 and TAO.

All studies were performed on TAO patients and healthy controls (45: 28 in total). RNA-seq was used to detect differential gene expression of orbital adipose-connective tissue. Quantitative PCR was performed to verify the

RNA-seq showed 1.86-log⁡2FC higher PTX3 expression in the orbital adipose-connective tissues from TAO group than controls (FDR = 0.0059). qPCR confirmed the difference (5.59-fold increase, p = 0.0012). The presence of PTX3 protein was demonstrated. Orbital adipose tissue from healthy controls showed weak staining for PTX3 while tissue from TAO group was strongly positive. Serum PTX3 concentration was significantly elevated in patients when compared to the control group (1.9-fold increase; p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Patients with TAO showed increased presence of PTX3 in orbital tissue and serum, which may suggest a potential relationship of PTX3 and TAO.