The results bring new insights into brain development and could affect routine pregnancy testing.
Children born with thyroid hormone deficiencies (hypothyreosis) are in danger of mental and locomotor underdevelopment if they remain untreated. However, scientists are unsure about what causes the damage and about how much attention should be given to the mother's hormone levels during pregnancy. In Sweden, all newborn babies, but not all pregnant women, are tested for hypothyreosis.
Scientists at Karolinska Institutet have now shown in experiments on mice that both the mother's and the child's thyroid hormone are necessary for proper locomotor development. Hormone deficiencies during early pregnancy, when the mother is the only source of the hormone, produced locomotor disorders in the mice that persisted into adulthood, at which point they were beyond treatment.
Hypothyreosis is easy to treat if it's discovered, says Professor Bj?śrn Vennstr?śm, who has led the study. The results provide fresh support for those who advocate the more thorough monitoring of pregnant women.
The scientists were also able to show that the cause of the locomotor disorders was an abnormal development of specific nerve cells in the motor cortex and cerebellum. The findings thus give new and important insights into the part played by thyroid hormone in brain development.
The study used gene modified mice with a mutation in one of the two receptors for thyroid hormone. The discoveries mean that patients with mutations of the same receptor can, for the first time, be identified and treated.
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Other advantages of the novel NIST-NCI-SAIC system include faster and larger-scale production of the antibodies and a more reliable quantitative measure of HER2 biomarker level, in part because the quantum dot tags will stay bright and detectable while fluorescent dyes fade over time.
The research was funded under an interagency agreement between NIST and NCI. NIST also is funding the development of a standard reference material to support HER2 testing.
High-resolution images of cells with normal HER2 levels is available at patapsco.nist/ImageGallery/details.cfm?imageid=488
High-resolution of image of cells with high HER2 levels is available at patapsco.nist/ImageGallery/details.cfm?imageid=489
* Y. Xiao, X. Gao, G. Gannot, M.R. Emmert-Buck, S. Srivastava, P.D. Wagner, M.A.Amos and P.E. Barker. Quantitation of HER2 and telomerase biomarkers in solid tumors with IgY antibodies and nanocrystal detection. International Journal of Cancer, posted online Jan. 23, 2008.
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