The Influence of Oxidative Stress on Thyroid Diseases

Abstract

Thyroid diseases, including neoplasms, autoimmune diseases and thyroid dysfunctions, are becoming a serious social problem with rapidly increasing prevalence. The latter is increasingly linked to oxidative stress. There are many methods for determining the biomarkers of oxidative stress, making it possible to evaluate the oxidative profile in patients with thyroid diseases compared to the healthy population. This opens up a new perspective for investigating the role of elevated parameters of oxidative stress and damage in people with thyroid diseases, especially of neoplastic nature. An imbalance between oxidants and antioxidants is observed at different stages and in different types of thyroid diseases. The organ, which is part of the endocrine system, uses free radicals (reactive oxygen species, ROS) to produce hormones. Thyroid cells release enzymes that catalyse ROS generation; therefore, a key role is played by the internal defence system and non-enzymatic antioxidants that counteract excess ROS not utilised to produce thyroid hormones, acting as a buffer to neutralise free radicals and ensure whole-body homeostasis. An excess of free radicals causes structural cell damage, undermining genomic stability. Looking at the negative effects of ROS accumulation, oxidative stress appears to be implicated in both the initiation and progression of carcinogenesis. The aim of this review is to investigate the oxidation background of thyroid diseases and to summarise the links between redox imbalance and thyroid dysfunction and disease.

N-Acetylcysteine, an ROS Inhibitor, Alleviates the Pathophysiology of Hyperthyroidism-Induced Cardiomyopathy via the ROS/Ca2+ Pathway

“…Then, in the cell model, we found that NAC could ameliorate myocardial injury by reducing ROS but not reduce TT3 and TT4 levels. ROS have been documented to promote hyperthyroidism [ 19 ], so we can speculate that NAC reduces the levels of TT3 and TT4 via the decreased level of ROS.…”

Membrane Lipids in the Thyroid Comparing to Those in Non-Endocrine Tissues Are Less Sensitive to Pro-Oxidative Effects of Fenton Reaction Substrates

“…As catalase is rather weakly expressed in the thyroid, H 2 O 2 degradation is carried out in this organ mainly by the enzymes from the glutathione peroxidases family (Song et al, 2007;Schweizer et al, 2008). This enzymatic antioxidative system is additionally supported by the contribution of molecules such as ascorbic acid, polyphenolic compounds, coenzyme Q10, β-carotene, retinol, and tocopherol (Kochman et al, 2021).…”

The protective role of nutritional antioxidants against oxidative stress in thyroid disorders

“…A significant difference in GPx activity and MDA levels was seen between the thyroid cancer patients before and after thyroidectomy in a study examining the change in OxS markers. Although thyroidectomy dramatically improved the oxidative status in favour of antioxidants, lipid peroxidation levels remained much more significant than in healthy thyroid people (25,121,124). Also, PTC patients exhibit a worse oxidative profile than patients with autoimmune thyroid disease and higher oxidative process rates than healthy individuals (125).…”