背景资料：There are three proteins including thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG), transthyretin and albumin responsible for carrying the thyroid hormones thyroxine (T4) and 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine (T3) in the bloodstream. This gene encodes the major thyroid hormone transport protein, TBG, in serum. It belongs to the serpin family in genomics, but the protein has no inhibitory function like many other members of the serpin family. Mutations in this gene result in TGB deficiency, which has been classified as partial deficiency, complete deficiency, and excess, based on the level of serum TBG. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found, but the full-length nature of these variants has not been determined.