PLoS ONE (Jan 2016)

Thyroid Hormone Activates Brown Adipose Tissue and Increases Non-Shivering Thermogenesis--A Cohort Study in a Group of Thyroid Carcinoma Patients.

  • Evie P M Broeders,
  • Guy H E J Vijgen,
  • Bas Havekes,
  • Nicole D Bouvy,
  • Felix M Mottaghy,
  • Marleen Kars,
  • Nicolaas C Schaper,
  • Patrick Schrauwen,
  • Boudewijn Brans,
  • Wouter D van Marken Lichtenbelt

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0145049
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
p. e0145049

Abstract

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BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES:Thyroid hormone receptors are present on brown adipose tissue (BAT), indicating a role for thyroid hormone in the regulation of BAT activation. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of thyroid hormone withdrawal followed by thyroid hormone in TSH-suppressive dosages, on energy expenditure and brown adipose tissue activity. SUBJECTS/METHODS:This study was a longitudinal study in an academic center, with a follow-up period of 6 months. Ten patients with well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma eligible for surgical treatment and subsequent radioactive iodine ablation therapy were studied in a hypothyroid state after thyroidectomy and in a subclinical hyperthyroid state (TSH-suppression according to treatment protocol). Paired two-tailed t-tests and linear regression analyses were used. RESULTS:Basal metabolic rate (BMR) was significantly higher after treatment with synthetic thyroid hormone (levothyroxine) than in the hypothyroid state (BMR 3.8 ± 0.5 kJ/min versus 4.4 ± 0.6 kJ/min, P = 0.012), and non-shivering thermogenesis (NST) significantly increased from 15 ± 10% to 25 ± 6% (P = 0.009). Mean BAT activity was significantly higher in the subclinical hyperthyroid state than in the hypothyroid state (BAT standard uptake value (SUVMean) 4.0 ± 2.9 versus 2.4 ± 1.8, P = 0.039). CONCLUSIONS:Our study shows that higher levels of thyroid hormone are associated with a higher level of cold-activated BAT. TRIAL REGISTRATION:ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02499471.