Bay Biosciences provides high-quality biopsy tissue samples, formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue blocks, with matched fresh frozen sera (serum), plasma, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) bio-fluids, from patients diagnosed with thyroid eye disease.
The sera (serum), plasma and PBMC biofluid specimens are processed from patient’s peripheral whole-blood using customized collection and processing protocols from thyroid eye disease.
Fresh frozen tissue and matched biofluid samples are collected from unique patients diagnosed with thyroid eye disease.
Bio-samples are provided to a valued pharmaceutical customer for research, diagnostics, discovery and drug development.
Thyroid Eye Disease (TED) Overview
Thyroid eye disease (TED) which is also known as Grave’s ophthalmopathy eye disease, is an autoimmune condition in which immune cells attack the thyroid gland which responds by secreting an excess amount of thyroid hormone. As a result, the thyroid gland enlarges and excess hormones increase metabolism.
The hypermetabolic state is characterized by fast pulse/heartbeat, palpitations, profuse sweating, high blood pressure (Hypertension), irritability, fatigue, weight loss, heat intolerance, and loss of hair and alterations in hair quality.
When the immune system attacks the tissues around the eyes, it causes the eye muscles or fat to expand. The eyes are particularly vulnerable to Graves’ eye disease, because the autoimmune attack often targets the eye muscles and connective tissue within the eye socket.
This Inflammation can cause the eyeballs to bulge from their sockets. Rarely, it can be severe enough to cause vision loss.
This likely occurs because these tissues contain proteins that appear similar to the immune system as those of the thyroid gland. Ocular symptoms can range from mild to severe; but only 10-20% of patients have sight threatening disease.
Another tissue that can also be involved in the immune attack of Graves’ eye disease is the skin of the shins.
The exact prevalence of thyroid eye disease is unknown, but is estimated to be 16 per 100,000 women in the general population, and 2.9 per 100,000 men in the general population.
Autoimmune eye condition that is often seen in patients with thyroid disease is known by many different names. These names include the following:
- Thyroid eye disease, sometimes abbreviated as TED
- Grave’s Ophthalmopathy (GO)
- Grave’s orbitopathy
Causes of Thyroid Eye Disease
The immune system protects us from germs and other things that can make us sick. With thyroid eye disease, the body mistakes our own tissue in and around the eyes for a foreign invader. The immune system then sends out cells called antibodies that attack the fat, muscle, and other tissue in and around the eye.
Experts don’t know what triggers this immune response in some people. Researchers are still studying all the causes.
Thyroid Eye Disease Links to Graves Disease
Thyroid eye (Grave’s) disease is an immune system disorder that causes your body to attack your thyroid gland. The attack triggers your body into making extra thyroid hormone.
Graves’ disease doesn’t cause thyroid eye disease. But the two conditions do show up around the same time. The disorders may arise together because the tissue around your eyes may have proteins that are similar to the kind in your thyroid gland.
If you have Graves’ disease, some other risk factors might raise your chances of getting thyroid eye disease, such as:
- Being female
- Certain genetic factors
- Individuals who get radioiodine treatment
- Smoking
Signs and Symptoms of Thyroid Eye Disease
In Graves’ eye disease the tissue around the eye is attacked, and the result is inflammation and swelling, causing the following:
- Dry eyes and irritation, occurring when the eyelids cannot close completely over bulging eyes
- Bulging of the eyes
- Inflammation and swelling of the eye and its surrounding tissues
- Puffiness around the eyes (Bloodshot eyes)
- Redness and pain
- Sensitivity to light
- Watery eyes
Progressive swelling may cause the following:
- Decreased or double vision (diplopia) , when swollen tissues push on the optic nerve
- Increased pressure inside the eye socket
- Pressure-pain or deep headache, which worsens with eye movements
The muscles around the eye are particularly susceptible to the attack of lymphocytes. As they tighten and lose their ability to stretch, these symptoms can occur:
- The eye is pushed forward in its socket causing a “staring” appearance
- Restriction of the eye’s normal movements, resulting in double vision
As symptoms build, many patients fear they will lose their vision. Fortunately, patients almost never go blind from Graves’ eye disease.
Thyroid eye disease is known to go through varying degrees of severity and can go into periods of remission. It often lasts six months to two years. When it has been inactive for a period of around a half a year, it’s less likely to recur.
Risk Factors of Thyroid Eye Disease
Approximately one million Americans are diagnosed with Graves’ eye disease each year. Women are five to six times more likely than men to get the disease.
Cigarette smoking are at significantly increased risk to develop the disease, and when they do, often have more severe and prolonged activity that threatens vision.
Although Graves’ disease and Graves’ eye disease both stem from the immune system’s attack on healthy tissue, one disease does not directly cause the other.
That’s why treatment of the thyroid gland, while important, does not improve the eye disease. The two diseases run their separate courses and do not necessarily occur at the same time.
Diagnosis of Thyroid Eye Disease
Patients who have hyperthyroidism and begin to experience symptoms involving the eyes, should have a complete eye exam by an ophthalmologist.
If your doctor suspects you have an overactive thyroid gland, your thyroid function must first be evaluated and treated appropriately by an internist trained in doing so.
If you have never had issues with your thyroid, a simple blood test will be ordered to check your thyroid levels. Your doctor may find swelling and enlargement of the eye muscles.
A CT scan or MRI scan of the eyes may be used to examine any swelling of the tissues behind the eye, in order to confirm the diagnosis of thyroid eye disease.
Treatment of Thyroid Eye Disease
Treatments include medications to suppress the production of hormone by the thyroid gland, radioactive iodine to eliminate hormone-producing cells, and surgery to remove the thyroid tissue.
In most cases, replacement thyroid hormone is required following the natural course of the Grave’s autoimmune attack on the thyroid gland or following effective treatment.
For a mild case, instill lubricating eye drops and artificial tears a few times during the day. Avoid wind and bright light. If you have severe symptoms, your healthcare provider may prescribe corticosteroids such as prednisone to reduce swelling.
In a very small percentage of patients, orbital decompression surgery may be recommended. This procedure removes the bone between the eye socket and the air sinus behind it so your eye has more room. This can improve your vision but there is a risk of double vision.
Double vision can also occur when scar tissue from the ophthalmopathy makes an eye muscle too short.
Eye muscle surgery can be used to attach the muscle at a point where it will again be the correct length to provide single vision. However, more than one surgery may be needed to be successful.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Advisory Committee on Dermatologic and Ophthalmic Drugs reviewed the biological license application for teprotumumab solution for intravenous application as a viable first and only treatment for emergent thyroid eye disease (TED). indicating favorable approval for this drug.
Teprotumumab was viewed as a breakthrough therapeutic for patients who develop this Graves’ disease-related condition, receiving unanimous support.
Bay Biosciences is a global leader in providing researchers with high quality, clinical grade, fully characterized human tissue samples, bio-specimens and human bio-fluid collections.
Samples available are cancer (tumor) tissue, cancer serum, cancer plasma cancer PBMC and human tissue samples from most other therapeutic areas and diseases.
Bay Biosciences maintains and manages its own bio-repository, human tissue bank (biobank) consisting of thousands of diseased samples (specimens) and from normal healthy donors available in all formats and types.
Our biobank procures and stores fully consented, deidentified and institutional review boards (IRB) approved human tissue samples and matched controls.
All our human tissue collections, human specimens and human bio-fluids are provided with detailed samples associated patient’s clinical data.
This critical patient’s clinical data includes information relating to their past and current disease, treatment history, lifestyle choices, biomarkers and genetic information.
Patient’s data is extremely valuable for researchers and is used to help identify new effective treatments (drug discovery & development) in oncology, other therapeutic areas and diseases.
Bay Biosciences banks wide variety of human tissue samples and biological samples including cryogenically preserved at – 80°C.
Including fresh frozen tissue samples, tumor tissue samples, FFPE’s, tissue slides, with matching human bio-fluids, whole blood and blood derived products such as serum, plasma and PBMC’s.
Bay Biosciences is a global leader in collecting and providing human tissue samples according to the researchers specified requirements and customized, tailor-made collection protocols.
Please contact us anytime to discuss your special research projects and customized human tissue sample requirements.
Bay Biosciences provides human tissue samples (human specimens) from diseased and normal healthy donors which includes:
- Peripheral whole-blood,
- Amniotic fluid
- Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL)
- Sputum
- Pleural effusion
- Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)
- Serum (sera)
- Plasma
- Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC’s)
- Saliva
- Buffy coat
- Urine
- Stool samples
- Aqueous humor
- Vitreous humor
- Kidney stones (renal calculi)
- Other bodily fluids from most diseases including cancer.
We can also procure most human bio-specimens and can-do special collections and requests of human samples that are difficult to find. All our human tissue samples are procured through IRB approved clinical protocols and procedures.
In addition to the standard processing protocols Bay Biosciences can also provide human plasma, serum, PBMC bio-fluid samples using custom processing protocols, you can buy donor specific sample collections in higher volumes and specified sample aliquots from us.
Bay Biosciences also provides human samples from normal healthy donors, volunteers, for controls and clinical research, contact us Now.
日本のお客様は、ベイバイオサイエンスジャパンBay Biosciences Japanまたはhttp://baybiosciences-jp.com/contact/までご連絡ください。