Analysis of peripheral blood T-cell subsets in active thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy: absence of effect of octreotide-LAR on T-cell subsets in patients with thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Octreotide, published as a randomized controlled trial.

Thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) is thought to be a T-cell-mediated autoimmune disorder.

The researchers sought to characterize abnormalities in the peripheral blood T-cell subsets in patients with TAO, and examine whether the long-acting somatostatin analogue, octreotide-LAR, treatment affects these cells.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 26 patients taking part.

PubMed indexes the participants as middle-aged adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

Because people in this Octreotide study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Neither the patients nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Octreotide, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

Some patients received a placebo instead of Octreotide, giving a reference point.

A time span of 16 weeks appears in the methods.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include CD4-CD8 Ratio, Flow Cytometry, Graves Ophthalmopathy, Leukocyte Common Antigens, Lymphocyte Count, Octreotide and Phenotype.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Octreotide in 26 patients over 16 weeks.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The publication is from 2005 (Thyroid : official journal of the American Thyroid Association), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Octreotide compound page, all human trials.