TSH action on cAMP binding to the regulatory subunits of cAMP-dependent protein kinases in pig thyroid cell cultures

Capsaicin restores sodium iodine symporter-mediated radioiodine uptake through bypassing canonical TSH‒TSHR pathway in anaplastic thyroid carcinoma cells

Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is a rare but highly lethal disease. ATCs are resistant to standard therapies and are extremely difficult to manage. The stepwise cell dedifferentiation results in the impairment of the iodine-metabolizing machinery and the infeasibility of radioiodine treatment in ATC. Hence, re-inducing iodine-metabolizing gene expression to restore radioiodine avidity is considered as a promising strategy to fight against ATC. In the present study, capsaicin (CAP), a natural potent transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1) agonist, was discovered to re-induce ATC cell differentiation and to increase the expression of thyroid transcription factors (TTFs including TTF-1, TTF-2, and PAX8) and iodine-metabolizing proteins, including thyroid stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR), thyroid peroxidase, and sodium iodine symporter (NIS), in two ATC cell lines, 8505C and FRO. Strikingly, CAP treatment promoted NIS glycosylation and its membrane trafficking, resulting in a significant enhancement of radioiodine uptake of ATC cells in vitro. Mechanistically, CAP activated TRPV1 channel and subsequently triggered Ca2+ influx, cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) generation, and cAMP responsive element binding protein (CREB) signal activation. Next, CREB recognized and bound to the promoter of SLC5A5 to facilitate its transcription. Moreover, the TRPV1 antagonist CPZ, the calcium chelator BAPTA, and the PKA inhibitor H-89 effectively alleviated the re-differentiation exerted by CAP, demonstrating that CAP might improve radioiodine avidity through the activation of the TRPV1‒Ca2+/cAMP/PKA/CREB signaling pathway. In addition, our study indicated that CAP might trigger a novel cascade to re-differentiate ATC cells and provide unprecedented opportunities for radioiodine therapy in ATC, bypassing canonical TSH‒TSHR pathway.

TSH control of PKA catalytic subunit activity in thyroid cell cultures

The protein expression and the enzyme activity of the catalytic subunit (C) of the cAMP-dependent protein kinases were studied in porcine thyroid cell primary cultures stimulated with two doses of TSH (0.1 mU/ml and 1 mU/ml) for 1 to 3 days. In TSH-stimulated cells the desensitization of the catalytic subunit activity was accompanied by a simultaneous and parallel decrease of its immunoreactivity. The loss of catalytic subunit was rapid and reached its maximum after 1 day of culture. It is similar in the two subcellular compartments: cytosol and particulate extracts. Contrary to the observed loss of the C subunit protein molecules in TSH-stimulated cells, the expression of the Cbeta subunit mRNA in these cells was increased fivefold compared to controls, while no significant change was observed on the Calpha subunit mRNA. These results suggest that TSH controls the Cbeta subunits of PKA at two levels: at the transcriptional level it increases Cbeta mRNA expression, and at the translational or posttranslational level TSH decreases the amount and the activity of the Cbeta protein molecules.