I've had a thought about what might cause enlarged spleens or overactive
adrenals and I'd like to talk about it here to see if anyone that does
pathology with ferrets thinks its worth testing.
 
Background: I'm lecturing on thyroid function in a med school class and
I've been reading about Graves disease which is a form of hyperthyroidism
in humans.  It is an autoimmune disease.  The mechanism of the disease is
that antibodies are made that bind to receptors - thyrotropin receptors -
on the thryoid cells that stimulates these cells to make excess thyroid
hormone.  This antibody mimics the action of the hormone - thryotopin or
thryoid stimulating hormone (TSH) and it is present all the time in the
serum.  Sometimes this same mechanism can lead to cancer of the thyroid
gland but in most cases it just causes the gland to be overly active.
 
So I'm wondering if similar mechanisms might exist in ferrets with
overactive spleens or adrenals.  If the fuzzie's immune system started to
make activating antibodies to receptors that stimulate the function of
either of these tissues, you would see the kinds of illnesses that we see
in so many of them.
 
I'm not sure at this point what the relevant receptors are in either case,
but this idea wouldn't be all that hard to test for someone who works on
ferret pathology.  If this was the cause of one of the conditions, the
serum of fuzzies with adrenal disease should contain antibodies that bind
to adrenal gland tissues but the ferrets without adrenal disease would lack
these antibodies.  Same would be true for serum from ferrets with enlarged
spleens.
 
Now even if this idea gets at the mechanism behind the disease, it doesn't
tell us why this occurs in some ferrets and not in others, nor does it
necessarily provide a cure.  However, I think it could help us figure out
appropriate treatments for these diseases and it might lead to better ways
of preventing or curing these illnesses.
 
I'm not in a postition to do these studies but if someone is and would be
interested to talk about it further, let me know.
 
Marianna Max
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
NY NY
[Posted in FML issue 2541]