Patients with Grave’s disease exhibit higher plasma concentrations of acylcarnitines and non-esterified fatty acids

Acylcarnitines(ACs) are fatty acid metabolites formed from free carnitine and acyl-coenzyme A for the transport of fatty acids across the inner mitochondrial membrane and beta-oxidation. The important pathological consequences of metabolism disorders arise from the detrimental effects of accumulated long-chain fatty acids and their respective ACs. We aimed to evaluate AC and non-esterified fatty acid(NEFA) levels in patients with Grave’s disease compared to an age and sex-matched control group. In a cross-sectional study, 23 subjects(4 men, 19 women) were enrolled. They were divided into 2 groups:Group 1–control group and group 2 - patients with Grave’s disease. Biochemical samples were collected to assess the thyroid status. NEFA and AC levels were measured in plasma samples. Data were processed using IBM SPSS statistical analysis. Eleven study participants were diagnosed with Grave’s disease (Group 2) and 12 were in the control group(Group 1). Mean age of participants was 41.25 years(SD 13.07;min 26, max 69) in Group 1 and 44.36 years(SD 16.16;min 28,max 72) in Group 2. Mean level of NEFA in Group 1 was 0.55 mM(SEM 0.07) and 0.74 mM(SEM 0.09) in Group 2(t-test p=0.12).Mean levels of short-chain AC concentrations were 13.0 µM(SEM 1812) in Group 1 and 20.7 µM(SEM 2497) in Group 2(t-test p=0.013). Mean medium-chain AC concentrations were 676 nM(SEM 80) in Group1, 1055 nM(SEM 134) in Group 2(t-test p=0.016), long-chain AC concentrations were 625 nM(SEM 66) in Group 1 and 921 nM(SEM 156) in Group 2(t-test p=0.067),respectively. Significantly higher concentrations of short-chain and medium-chain AC levels were measured in patients with Grave’s disease in comparison to healthy subjects. Also, a tendency of increased NEFA and long-chain AC concentrations were observed in case of Grave’s disease, which might imply the pathogenesis of metabolic disorder in Grave’s disease. Research was supported by Latvian Council of Science projects grants No. LZP-2018/2-0059 and LZP-2018/1-0082.