Thyroid hormone formation catalyzed by human thyroid peroxidase: a new and physiological measurement of thyroid...

This report describes a method for measurement of TPO activity by the amount of thyroid hormone production. Thyroid hormone formation was accomplished by incubating purified iodine-poor Tg with human TPO for 60 min at 37 C in the presence of free DIT, KI, and an H2O2 source. Newly formed T3 and T4 were measured by radioimmunoassay of the Tg hydrolysates. With this method, TPO-catalyzed iodination of Tg and thyroid hormone formation were measured simultaneously from eight normal thyroid glands and 15 thyroid glands from MMI-treated patients with Graves' disease. Graves' disease TPO showed iodinating activity and T4 formation which was higher than that of TPO from normal thyroids, and there was a positive linear correlation between the iodinating activity and the amount of T4 formation. T3 production by highly active TPO, however, dissociates from the amount of T4 formation and the degree of Tg iodination. Thus, if the activity of TPO is to be measured by the amount of thyroid hormone production, T4 should be used rather than T3. The method of thyroid hormone formation described here provides a new and physiological measurement of TPO activity and should be useful for investigation of the role of human TPO in thyroid hormone formation.