The insular cortex is not insular in thyroid eye disease: neuroimaging revelations of central–peripheral system interaction

作者：Haiyang Zhang, Yuting Liu, Duojin Xia, Mengda Jiang, Yinwei Li, Jing Sun, Haixia Guan, Ling Zhu, Xuefei Song, Jue Wang, Xianqun Fan, Huifang Zhou · 发表于：Journal of Neuroinflammation · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1186/s12974-024-03044-4 · 被引用次数：9 · 研究领域：Functional Brain Connectivity Studies、Vestibular and auditory disorders、Ophthalmology and Eye Disorders

BACKGROUND: Thyroid eye disease (TED) is highly correlated with dysregulated immunoendocrine status. The insular cortex was found to regulate peripheral inflammation and immunomodulation in mice. This study aimed to explore whether the insular cortex in patients with TED played a modulatory role including the aberrant brain functional alteration and its association with immunoendocrine status. METHODS: This study included 34 active patients (AP), 30 inactive patients (IP) with TED, and 45 healthy controls (HC) matched for age, sex, and educational level. Comprehensive clinical details (especially immunoendocrine markers) and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected from each participant. The amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) was used to probe the aberrant alterations of local neural activity. The seed-based functional connectivity (FC) analysis was used to explore the relationship between the insular cortex and each voxel throughout the whole brain. The correlation analysis was conducted to assess the association between insular neurobiomarkers and immunoendocrine parameters. RESULTS: When compared with the IP and HC groups, the AP group displayed significantly higher ALFF values in the right insular cortex (INS.R) and lower FC values between the INS.R and the bilateral cerebellum. None of the neurobiomarkers differed between the IP and HC groups. Besides, correlations between insular neurobiomarkers and immunoendocrine markers (free...