Abstract
T
The IWRTH meeting brings together clinicians, basic scientists, and senior investigators working on thyroid hormone action and the syndromes of impaired sensitivity to thyroid hormone (ISRTH). Importantly, the workshop will maintain the tradition of encouraging active participation of young investigators, who represent the future of research and who will be eligible for accommodation and travel support because of generous sponsorship from the American Thyroid Association, European Thyroid Association, UK Society for Endocrinology, as well as private donations.
Thirty-nine presentations from leading international laboratories will include the latest research on the role of thyroid hormone transport, metabolism, and receptors in human ISRTH syndromes and animal models. Sessions will be devoted to thyroid hormone transporters, deiodinase and selenoprotein biology, gene defects and treatment; and RTHα and RTHβ syndromes resulting from thyroid hormone receptor mutations, incorporating discussion of unusual clinical cases and therapeutic possibilities. Further topics will focus on novel mechanisms of thyroid hormone action, including new receptor ligands, the role of thyroid hormones in development, aging, inflammation, tissue degeneration and repair, and specific target tissues.
The format of the meeting will be similar to previous workshops, with particular emphasis on younger investigators and scientists presenting data on behalf of their laboratories. Sessions are structured to include equal amounts of time for both presentation and debate in order to promote extensive discussion among participants. Apart from brief optional abstracts, there will be no published proceedings, enabling groups to present their latest unpublished observations. There will also be a new opportunity to submit abstracts containing novel data of exceptional interest for one of two late-breaking oral presentations. Shared meals, breaks, poster sessions, and activities will enhance interaction. This is an important and highly valued tradition that facilitates engagement throughout the meeting for the benefit of all attendees and especially for younger scientists and students.
Since its inception 25 years ago, the workshop has grown in stature and earned international esteem. At the first meeting in Cambridge, United Kingdom, a consensus statement was issued, establishing the nomenclature of thyroid hormone receptor β gene (THRB) mutations in classical resistance to thyroid hormone (RTH) (1 –5), first described in humans in 1967 (6). At the third meeting in Aspen, Colorado, in 1997, the first mouse models of RTH were presented, and their major role in advancing understanding of the mechanism of thyroid hormone action emerged. During the seventh meeting in Lyon, France, in 2005, considerable attention was paid to new details concerning the structure, molecular biology, physiology, and pharmacology of the thyroid hormone receptors (7), as well as the broadening definition of thyroid hormone hyposensitivity. Indeed, by the time of the eighth workshop on the Azorean Island of San Miguel in 2007, a new term—“reduced sensitivity to thyroid hormone (RSTH)”—was adopted and accepted as the field advanced (8). Furthermore, following discovery of patients with RTHα due to mutations affecting the thyroid hormone receptor α gene (THRA) around the time of 12th meeting in Quebec City, Canada, in 2012, it became apparent that understanding of RTH should be reclassified to include possible inherited forms of impaired sensitivity to thyroid hormone that might occur at the level of thyroid hormone transport, metabolism, and receptor (9 –11). By the time of the most recent meeting in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2016, new possible subtypes of thyroid hormone receptor defects were hypothesized (12), and new mouse models first discussed at that workshop have now transformed the field as we embark on a new and unexpected journey that may ultimately resolve the intricacies of thyroid hormone action (13).
The stage is thus set for an exciting and outstanding 13th IWRTH in The Netherlands this September in which we know participation will be enthusiastic, controversial, and forthright, but absolutely certain to advance the field and our understanding.