Research Summary
Dr. Caturegli’s research focuses on autoimmune diseases of the endocrine glands, with particular focus on those affecting the thyroid and pituitary.
His team has shown that transgenic mice expressing interferon-gamma specifically in the thyroid gland develop a metaplastic transformation of the thyrocyte resembling the human Hürthle cell, a cell characteristically found in Hashimoto thyroiditis.
This transformation depends upon the overexpression of the immunoproteasome—specifically, its LMP2 subunit.
Our team is now evaluating the efficacy of new immunoproteasome inhibitors for the treatment of Hürthle cell lesions.
In the pituitary model, studies have led to the development of a mouse model of autoimmune hypophysitis, a model the lab is using to explore two aspects relevant to human health:
- The identification of the pituitary antigens recognized by the immune system in patients with hypophysitis
- The recently reported association between hypophysitis and treatments used in patients with cancer to block T cell inhibitory signals, such as CTLA-4
Selected Publications
De Remigis A, de Gruijl TD, Uram JN, Tzou SC, Iwama S, Talor MV, Armstrong TD, Santegoets SJ, Slovin SF, Zheng L, Laheru DA, Jaffee EM, Gerritsen WR, van den Eertwegh AJ, Le DT, Caturegli P. “Development of thyroglobulin antibodies after GVAX immunotherapy is associated with prolonged survival.” Int J Cancer. 2014 May 15. doi: 10.1002/ijc.28973. [Epub ahead of print]
McLeod DS, Caturegli P, Cooper DS, Matos PG, Hutfless S. “Variation in rates of autoimmune thyroid disease by race/ethnicity in US military personnel.” JAMA. 2014 Apr 16;311(15):1563-5. doi: 10.1001/jama.2013.285606. No abstract available.
Iwama S, De Remigis A, Callahan MK, Slovin SF, Wolchok JD, Caturegli P. “Pituitary expression of CTLA-4 mediates hypophysitis secondary to administration of CTLA-4 blocking antibody.” Sci Transl Med. 2014 Apr 2;6(230):230ra45. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3008002
Lupi I, Raffaelli V, Di Cianni G, Caturegli P, Manetti L, Ciccarone AM, Bogazzi F, Mariotti S, Del Prato S, Martino E. Pituitary autoimmunity in patients with diabetes mellitus and other endocrine disorders. J Endocrinol Invest. 2013 Feb;36(2):127-31
Ricciuti A, De Remigis A, Landek-Salgado MA, De Vincentiis L, Guaraldi F, Lupi I, Iwama S, Wand GS, Salvatori R, Caturegli P. “Detection of pituitary antibodies by immunofluorescence: approach and results in patients with pituitary diseases.” J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2014 May;99(5):1758-66. doi: 10.1210/jc.2014-1049. Epub 2014 Feb 25
Caturegli P, De Remigis A, Rose NR. “Hashimoto thyroiditis: clinical and diagnostic criteria.” Autoimmun Rev. 2014 Apr-May;13(4-5):391-7. doi: 10.1016/j.autrev.2014.01.007. Epub 2014 Jan 13. Review
Bose V, Caturegli P, Conrad J, Omran W, Boor S, Giese A, Gutenberg A. Use of a clinicoradiological score to determine the presurgical diagnosis of autoimmune hypophysitis in a teenage girl. J Neurosurg Pediatr. 2013 Mar;11(3):335-9
Caturegli P, De Remigis A, Chuang K, Dembele M, Iwama A, Iwama S. Hashimoto's thyroiditis: celebrating the centennial through the lens of the Johns Hopkins hospital surgical pathology records. Thyroid. 2013 Feb;23(2):142-50
Maleszewski JJ, Murray DL, Dispenzieri A, Grogan M, Pereira NL, Jenkins SM, Judge DP, Caturegli P, Vrana JA, Theis JD, Dogan A, Halushka MK. Relationship between monoclonal gammopathy and cardiac amyloid type. Cardiovasc Pathol. 2012 Oct 24
Caturegli P, De Remigis A, Ferlito M, Landek-Salgado MA, Iwama S, Tzou SC, Ladenson PW. Anatabine ameliorates experimental autoimmune thyroiditis. Endocrinology. 2012 Sep;153(9):4580-7
Iwama S, De Remigis A, Bishop JA, Kimura HJ, Caturegli P. Hürthle cells predict hypothyroidism in interferon-? transgenic mice of different genetic backgrounds.Endocrinology. 2012 Aug;153(8):4059-66
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