Multi-element analysis of metals in human pathological and unchanged thyroid glands – pilot study

Disturbances in the homeostasis of the elemental composition of thyroid tissue may have serious metabolic and health consequences.

It is believed that the accumulation of some metals or the deficiency of others may even cause lethal tumours.

Due to the fact that metallomics most often uses human serum to analyse macro and microelements as well as trace elements, it was decided to use material that is more difficult to obtain, but also adds credibility to the research – thyroid tissue samples biopsy.

The experiments were conducted on 17 patients diagnosed with: nodular (10) and colloidal goitre (2), chronic thyroiditis (2), follicular adenoma (2) and papillary carcinoma (1).

They were recruited by collecting a tumour fragment, control fragment and serum from each of them.

The content of Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn was examined using ICP-OES (Inductively Coupled Plasma - Optical Emission Spectrometers).

Simultaneously, biochemical methods were used to determine the markers of inflammation, glycation and peroxidation: malondialdehyde, pentosidine, reactive free amine content, compounds with thiol groups and galectin 3 in the sera of the examined patients.

Three statistically significant correlations were identified: Ca-Mg and Cu-Zn in control tissues ( p  < 0.05) and Cr-Mn in pathological tissues (p < 0.05).

A comparison of individual groups of patients shows that there are some potentail tendencies to increase or decrease in the concentration of certain elements or markers of inflammation and glycation, therefore we discuss potential relationships between a given parameter and a thyroid disorder.

The pilot study is an introduction to a deeper analysis aimed at tracing the pathomechanism of the development of thyroid diseases, so that the risk of developing these diseases can be effectively minimized.