Effect of the micronutrient iodine in thyroid carcinoma angiogenesis

The utility of low-iodine diet in preparation for thyroid cancer therapy with radioactive iodine—A cohort study

Objective: A low-iodine diet (LID) of <50μ iodine/day is recommended as preparation for radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). The 24-h urinary iodine excretion (UIE) is utilized to evaluate the iodine-depleted status. The aim of this study was to test the association between UIE and progression-free survival (PFS).

Patients and methods: In total, 70 patients with intermediate- or high-risk DTC, post-total thyroidectomy, adhered to 2 weeks of LID and had UIE measured before RAI therapy. A Cox regression model was performed to study the contribution of UIE to PFS.

Results: The study group consisted of 68% (48/70) of women, aged 41.5 [IQR 31.0, 54.0] years, with tumor size 2.8 [IQR 1.8–4.5] cm, and presence of distant metastases in 22.9% (16/70) of patients. Patients were treated with 1–5 RAI dosages with the median cumulative activity of 150 [IQR 102–314] mCi (5.5 [IQR 3.8–11.6] GBq). During the follow-up of 3.7 [IQR 1.5–6.5] years, 21.4% (15/70) of patients had disease progression. The risk of progression was significantly higher in patients with UIE ≥200 µg/day at the time of RAI administration than in those with UIE <200 µg/day (HR 3.35, 95% CI 1.09–10.34, and p = 0.02). However, the multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis adjusted for age, tumor size, and presence of distant metastases suggested that only distant metastases were independently significantly associated with the risk of progression (HR 5.80 (1.17–28.67), p = 0.03).

Conclusions: Although UIE ≥200 µg/day might be associated with worse PFS in RAI-treated DTC patients, the presence of distant metastases is a strong independent predictor of progression. Less stringent LID might be sufficient to achieve a UIE of <200 µg/day.

A case-control study of urinary levels of iodine, perchlorate and thiocyanate and risk of papillary thyroid cancer

BACKGROUND

The incidence of thyroid cancer has recently increased worldwide. With the exception of radiation exposure, the effects of potential risk factors on thyroid cancer incidence remain controversial.

OBJECTIVES

The association between exposure to iodine, perchlorate, and thiocyanate and papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) incidence was evaluated and risk factors were predicted.

METHODS

A pair-matching case-control study was performed including 116 age- and sex-matched PTC cases and 116 non-PTC controls. Iodine, perchlorate, and thiocyanate concentrations in urine specimens were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The association between iodine, perchlorate, and thiocyanate urinary concentrations and PTC was evaluated using univariable conditional regression logistic analysis followed by multivariable conditional logistic regression analyses with backward stepwise selection to predict risk factors for PTC.

RESULTS

After adjusting for confounders and creatinine standardization, urinary concentrations of iodine [odds ratio (OR) = 11.01, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.97-30.52] and perchlorate (OR = 2.27, 95% CI: 1.03-5.03) were associated with the risk of PTC, whereas urinary thiocyanate concentration showed a negative association (OR = 0.24, 95% CI: 0.09-0.65).

CONCLUSIONS

Increased exposure to iodine and perchlorate may affect PTC development, whereas high thiocyanate exposure may have a beneficial effect.

Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals gene expression signatures of breast cancer-associated endothelial cells

Tumor endothelial cells (TEC) play an indispensible role in tumor growth and metastasis although much of the detailed mechanism still remains elusive. In this study we characterized and compared the global gene expression profiles of TECs and control ECs isolated from human breast cancerous tissues and reduction mammoplasty tissues respectively by single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). Based on the qualified scRNA-seq libraries that we made, we found that 1302 genes were differentially expressed between these two EC phenotypes. Both principal component analysis (PCA) and heat map-based hierarchical clustering separated the cancerous versus control ECs as two distinctive clusters, and MetaCore disease biomarker analysis indicated that these differentially expressed genes are highly correlated with breast neoplasm diseases. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis software (GSEA) enriched these genes to extracellular matrix (ECM) signal pathways and highlighted 127 ECM-associated genes. External validation verified some of these ECM-associated genes are not only generally overexpressed in various cancer tissues but also specifically overexpressed in colorectal cancer ECs and lymphoma ECs. In conclusion, our data demonstrated that ECM-associated genes play pivotal roles in breast cancer EC biology and some of them could serve as potential TEC biomarkers for various cancers.

The mechanism and potential targets of class II HDACs in angiogenesis

Angiogenesis refers to the new blood vessels deriving from the existing blood vessels, and it is a complex regulatory process. Angiogenesis is associated with the normal development of the body and tumor growth and migration. The imbalance of histone deacetylase, as an epigenetic modification, could induce the production of diseases, such as cancer, metabolic diseases, etc., and it also plays an important role in angiogenesis. Many researches indicate that class II HDACs nuclear shuttle and its phosphorylation are necessary for the diseases and the protection of the collective itself. This paper will make a review for the relationship between II HDACs and angiogenesis under physiological and pathologic categories, looking forward to the disease treatment in the future.

Risk of malignancy in thyroid nodules: predictive value of puncture feeling of grittiness in the process of fine-needle aspiration

Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is widely used for diagnosing thyroid nodules. However, there has been no specific investigation about the puncture feeling of grittiness. The aim of the present study was to see if the puncture feeling of grittiness during fine-needle aspiration procedure, combined with standard FNAC, could improve the accuracy in diagnosing thyroid cancer. A total of one thousand five hundred and thirty-one thyroid FNAC specimens acquired between January 2013 and January 2017 were retrospectively retrieved. All cases underwent surgical intervention. The FNAC diagnoses and puncture feeling of grittiness were evaluated and compared with the results of final histopathological diagnoses. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of diagnosis for thyroid nodules by FNAC alone, puncture feeling of grittiness alone, and the combination of FNAC plus grittiness were calculated respectively. The findings of our study suggest that puncture feeling of grittiness is a useful adjunct. Adding puncture feeling of grittiness to FNAC can significantly enhance the ability to differentiate malignant thyroid nodules from benign thyroid nodules. More importantly, we found that puncture feeling of grittiness is surprising trust-worthy in being near perfectly reproducible per individual radiologist, and among different operators.

Tibial dyschondroplasia is highly associated with suppression of tibial angiogenesis through regulating the HIF-1α/VEGF/VEGFR signaling pathway in chickens

Tibial dyschondroplasia (TD) is an intractable poultry problem that is characterized by the appearance of non-vascularized and non-mineralized cartilage masses in tibial growth plates (TGPs). However, the role of angiogenesis inhibition in the occurrence of TD remains unknown. In this study, we found that, compared to low-altitude Arbor Acres chickens (AACs), high-altitude Tibetan chickens showed higher tibial vascular distributions that were accompanied by up-regulation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) and VEGF receptors. These observations provide insights into hypoxia-induced angiogenesis, which may be related to the absence of TD in high-altitude native Tibetan chickens. Importantly, hypoxia experiments also showed that during hypoxia, tibial angiogenesis was enhanced, which was due to pro-angiogenic factor up-regulation (including VEGFA, VEGFR1, VEGFR2, and IL-8), in AACs. Moreover, we observed that thiram-induced TD could strongly inhibit tibial angiogenesis in the hypertrophic zone through coordinated down-regulation of HIF-1α and pro-angiogenic factors, leading to a disruption in the blood supply to the TGP. Taken together, these findings reveal that the occurrence of TD is highly associated with inhibition of tibial angiogenesis through down-regulated expression of HIF-1α, VEGFA and VEGF receptors, which results in suppression of TGP development.

The Role of Tumor Microenvironment in Chemoresistance: To Survive, Keep Your Enemies Closer

Chemoresistance is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in cancer and it continues to be a challenge in cancer treatment. Chemoresistance is influenced by genetic and epigenetic alterations which affect drug uptake, metabolism and export of drugs at the cellular levels. While most research has focused on tumor cell autonomous mechanisms of chemoresistance, the tumor microenvironment has emerged as a key player in the development of chemoresistance and in malignant progression, thereby influencing the development of novel therapies in clinical oncology. It is not surprising that the study of the tumor microenvironment is now considered to be as important as the study of tumor cells. Recent advances in technological and analytical methods, especially ‘omics’ technologies, has made it possible to identify specific targets in tumor cells and within the tumor microenvironment to eradicate cancer. Tumors need constant support from previously ‘unsupportive’ microenvironments. Novel therapeutic strategies that inhibit such microenvironmental support to tumor cells would reduce chemoresistance and tumor relapse. Such strategies can target stromal cells, proteins released by stromal cells and non-cellular components such as the extracellular matrix (ECM) within the tumor microenvironment. Novel in vitro tumor biology models that recapitulate the in vivo tumor microenvironment such as multicellular tumor spheroids, biomimetic scaffolds and tumor organoids are being developed and are increasing our understanding of cancer cell-microenvironment interactions. This review offers an analysis of recent developments on the role of the tumor microenvironment in the development of chemoresistance and the strategies to overcome microenvironment-mediated chemoresistance. We propose a systematic analysis of the relationship between tumor cells and their respective tumor microenvironments and our data show that, to survive, cancer cells interact closely with tumor microenvironment components such as mesenchymal stem cells and the extracellular matrix.