A review on the mechanism of iodide metabolic dysfunction in differentiated thyroid cancer

Thyroid cancer risk associated with perfluoroalkyl carboxylate exposure: Assessment using a human dermal fibroblast-derived extracellular matrix-based thyroid cancer organoid

The burgeoning incidence of thyroid cancer globally necessitates a deeper understanding of its etiological factors. Emerging research suggests a link to environmental contaminants, notably perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (PFACs). This study introduces a novel biomaterial-based approach for modeling thyroid cancer and assesses PFAC exposure-related health risks. This biomaterial-centric methodology enabled a realistic simulation of long-term, low-dose PFAC exposure, yielding critical insights into their carcinogenic potential. Initially, the no observed adverse effect level concentration of 10 μM for four different PFACs, determined using cytotoxicity tests in 2D cell cultures, was employed with thyroid cancer organoids. Specifically, these organoids were exposed to 10 μM of PFACs, refreshed every 3 days over a period of 21 days. The impact of these PFACs on the organoids was assessed using western blotting and immunofluorescence, complemented by high-content screening imaging. This evaluation focused on thyroid-specific biomarkers, epithelial-mesenchymal transition markers, and the proliferation marker Ki-67. Findings indicated significant alterations in these markers, particularly with long-chain PFACs, suggesting an increased risk of thyroid cancer progression and metastasis upon prolonged exposure. This research advances our understanding of thyroid cancer pathology within the context of environmental health risks by investigating the effects of low-dose, long-term exposure to PFACs on human thyroid cancer organoids. The findings reveal the potential carcinogenic risk associated with these substances, emphasizing the urgent need for stricter regulatory controls.

Pre-Therapeutic Measurements of Iodine Avidity in Papillary and Poorly Differentiated Thyroid Cancer Reveal Associations with Thyroglobulin Expression, Histological Variants and Ki-67 Index

Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and poorly differentiated thyroid cancer (PDTC) are treated with radioiodine to reduce recurrence and to treat the spread of disease. Adequate iodine accumulation in cancer tissue, iodine avidity, is important for treatment effect. This study investigated which clinical and histological tumour characteristics correlate with avidity. To quantify avidity in cancer tissue, tracer amounts of iodine-131 were given to 45 patients with cytologically confirmed thyroid cancer. At pathology grossing, representative samples of tumour and lymph nodes were taken and subjected to radioactivity quantification ex vivo to determine avidity. Afterwards, samples underwent extended pathology work-up and analysis. We found that tumoural Tg expression and Ki-67 index were correlated with avidity, whereas tumour size and pT stage were not. The histological variant of thyroid cancer was also correlated with iodine avidity. Variants associated with worse clinical prognoses displayed lower avidity than variants with better prognoses. This work provides new information on which tumours have low iodine avidity. Lower avidity in aggressive histological PTC variants may explain their overall poorer prognoses. Our findings also suggest that radioiodine dosage could be adapted to Tg expression, Ki-67 index or histological variant instead of pT stage, potentially improving the efficacy of radioiodine therapy.

miR-221-3p and miR-222-3p regulate the SOCS3/STAT3 signaling pathway to downregulate the expression of NIS and reduce radiosensitivity in thyroid cancer

The expression levels of microRNA (miR)-221-3p and miR-222-3p in thyroid cancer have been found to be upregulated compared with those in normal tissues. The present study aimed to determine the effects and potential underlying mechanisms of miR-221-3p and miR-222-3p on the regulation of radioactive iodine (131I) uptake and radiosensitivity of thyroid cancer cells. The potential regulatory target genes of miR-221-3p and miR-222-3p were predicted by bioinformatics analysis, and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to verify miR-221-3p, miR-222-3p and target gene expression levels in thyroid cancer tissues and cell lines. Overexpression of miR-221-3p or miR-222-3p in cell models was performed using lentivirus infection. Knockdown of miR-221-3p and miR-222-3p in cells was achieved using oligonucleotide inhibitor transfection. Western blotting was used to analyze the expression levels of target proteins. In addition, the effects of miR-221-3p and miR-222-3p on the radiosensitivity of thyroid cancer cells were verified using a colony formation assay. The results of the present study revealed that the expression levels of miR-221-3p and miR-222-3p were significantly upregulated, while the expression levels of suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) were downregulated in thyroid cancer tissues. Furthermore, miR-221-3p and miR-222-3p overexpression downregulated the expression levels of SOCS3, E-cadherin and solute carrier family 5 member 5 (NIS), and upregulated the expression levels of phosphorylated STAT3 and vimentin. Following the overexpression of miR-221-3p or miR-222-3p in the FTC133 and TPC1 cell lines, their radiosensitivity was suppressed. In conclusion, the findings of the present study suggested that miR-221-3p and miR-222-3p may downregulate the expression levels of NIS and promote radioresistance. The potential mechanism was hypothesized to be associated with the miR-221-3p and miR-222-3p targeting of the SOCS3 gene, which may subsequently activate the STAT3 signaling pathway.

ADORA1 is a diagnostic-related biomarker and correlated with immune infiltrates in papillary thyroid carcinoma

Background: Adenosine A1 Receptor (ADORA1) is an adenosine receptor particularly relevant to the immunomodulatory process of malignant tumors. There are growing evidences that dysregulated overexpression of ADORA1 can promote many types of tumorigenesis. However, the expression and prognostic value and mechanism of ADORA1 in thyroid papillary carcinoma have not been reported. Methods: TCGA, ONCOMINE, UALCAN, cBioPortal, GeneMANIA, LinkedOmics, TIMER, GSCALite, TISIDB and EPIC tools were used in this study. Results: ADORA1 was overexpressed in papillary thyroid carcinoma compared to paracancerous tissue. And ADORA1 was positively correlated with lymph node metastasis as well as pathological stage in PTC. ADORA1 had diagnostic and prognostic value for PTC. The functions of ADORA1 co-expressed genes were mainly enriched in immune response, immune response-regulation signaling pathway, regulation of leukocyte activation and cancer-related pathways. Besides, ADORA1 expression was significantly correlated with tumor-infiltrating cells and immune biomarkers in PTC. Finally, the high expression of ADORA1 was sensitive to JW-55 drug. Conclusion: ADORA1 is a diagnostic and a prognostic biomarker for PTC. The expression of ADORA1 is positively correlated with many immunoregulatory factors in PTC.

Role of oncogene PIM-1 in the development and progression of papillary thyroid carcinoma: Involvement of oxidative stress

In this study, we aimed to clarify the role of PIM-1 in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) in vitro and investigate the relationship between PIM-1 and redox proteins (NOX4, SOD2, and GPX2) at the tissue and cellular levels. As a PIM-1 inhibitor, SGI-1776 inhibited cell proliferation, colony formation, migration and induced an increase in apoptosis and reactive oxygen species in two PTC cell lines (BCPAP and TPC-1). The expressions of PIM-1, SOD2 and GPX2 were downregulated after siNOX4 exposure. Immunohistochemistry in 120 PTC patients showed that all four proteins exhibited higher expression levels in PTC tissues than in adjacent normal tissues. PIM-1 expression was related to NOX4, SOD2, and GPX2 expressions. The Cancer Genome Atlas database analysis showed the significant correlation between the expression of NOX4 and PIM-1. Our results demonstrated that PIM-1 played an important oncogenic role in PTC carcinogenesis that may be related to oxidative stress.

Rabbit thyroid extracellular matrix as a 3D bioscaffold for thyroid bioengineering: a preliminary in vitro study

BACKGROUND

Advances in regenerative medicine technologies have been strongly proposed in the management of thyroid diseases. Mechanistically, the adoption of thyroid bioengineering requires a scaffold that shares a similar three-dimensional (3D) space structure, biomechanical properties, protein component, and cytokines to the native extracellular matrix (ECM).

METHODS

24 male New Zealand white rabbits were used in this experimental study. The rabbit thyroid glands were decellularized by immersion/agitation decellularization protocol. The 3D thyroid decellularization scaffolds were tested with histological and immunostaining analyses, scanning electron microscopy, DNA quantification, mechanical properties test, cytokine assay and cytotoxicity assays. Meanwhile, the decellularization scaffold were seeded with human thyroid follicular cells, cell proliferation and thyroid peroxidase were determined to explore the biocompatibility in vitro.

RESULTS

Notably, through the imaging studies, it was distinctly evident that our protocol intervention minimized cellular materials and maintained the 3D spatial structure, biomechanical properties, ECM composition, and biologic cytokine. Consequently, the decellularization scaffold was seeded with human thyroid follicular cells, thus strongly revealing its potential in reinforcing cell adhesion, proliferation, and preserve important protein expression.

CONCLUSIONS

The adoption of our protocol to generate a decellularized thyroid scaffold can potentially be utilized in transplantation to manage thyroid diseases through thyroid bioengineering.

Diallyl trisulfide induces G2/M cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis in anaplastic thyroid carcinoma 8505C cells

Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is the most aggressive thyroid cancer. Current approaches including surgery, chemotherapy and therapeutic drugs provide limited benefits for ATC patients. Diallyl trisulfide (DATS) has been documented as a promising anti-cancer agent for various carcinomas. However, its role in ATC tumorigenesis remained unclear. Our results showed that DATS treatment at 12.5, 25 and 50 μM decreased the viability of 8505C cells both in a time- and dose-dependent manner. The phosphorylation of H2A.X, which is a DNA damage marker, was induced by DATS both in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Moreover, DATS mediated the DNA damage through the phosphorylation of ATM but not ATR. DATS also induced G2/M cell-cycle arrest followed by the translocation of Cdc25C from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. Further results showed that DATS induced mitochondrial apoptosis in 8505C cells, evidenced by Hoechst/PI double staining, PI-Annexin V assay and western blot. Taken altogether, our findings demonstrated that DATS induced G2/M cell-cycle arrest and mitochondrial apoptosis by triggering DNA damage in ATC 8505C cells, which shed light on a novel therapeutic approach for ATC treatment.