Commentary: Excessive Iodine Promotes Pyroptosis of Thyroid Follicular Epithelial Cells in Hashimoto's Thyroiditis Through the ROS-NF-κB-NLRP3 Pathway

NLRP3 Inflammasome: Checkpoint Connecting Innate and Adaptive Immunity in Autoimmune Diseases

Autoimmune diseases are a broad spectrum of human diseases that are characterized by the breakdown of immune tolerance and the production of autoantibodies. Recently, dysfunction of innate and adaptive immunity is considered to be a key step in the initiation and maintenance of autoimmune diseases. NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome is a multimeric protein complex, which can detect exogenous pathogen irritants and endogenous danger signals. The main function of NLRP3 inflammasome is to promote secretion of interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-18, and pyroptosis mediated by caspase-1. Served as a checkpoint in innate and adaptive immunity, aberrant activation and regulation of NLRP3 inflammasome plays an important role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. This paper reviewed the roles of NLRP3 inflammasome in autoimmune diseases, which shows NLRP3 inflammasome may be a potential target for autoimmune diseases deserved further study.

Reevaluation of the Effect of Iodine on Thyroid Cell Survival and Function Using PCCL3 and Nthy-ori 3-1 Cells

The appropriate amount of iodine is critical for normal function of thyroid cells synthesizing thyroid hormones. Although normal thyroid cell lines such as rat PCCL3 and FRTL5 and human Nthy-ori 3-1 have been widely used for in vitro studies on physiological and pathophysiological effects of iodine on thyroid cells, we have recently pointed out the critical differences between FRTL5/PCCL3 cells and Nthy-ori 3-1 cells. Therefore, we here directly compared some of the cellular characteristics—iodine uptake, differentiated status, iodine-induced cytotoxicity, and iodine-regulation of autophagy—between PCCL3 and Nthy-ori 3-1 cells. PCCL3 cells express messenger RNAs for thyrotropin receptor and sodium/iodine symporter and incorporate iodine in a thyrotropin-dependent manner, whereas Nthy-ori 3-1 cells do not either. Nevertheless, both cells were comparably resistant to iodine cytotoxicity: Only far excess iodine (5 × 10^–2 M) killed 20% to 40% cells in 24 hours with perchlorate exhibiting no effect, suggesting this cytotoxic effect is due to extracellular iodine. In contrast, a wide range of iodine (5 × 10^–9 to 5 × 10^–2 M) induced autophagy in PCCL3 cells, which was abolished by perchlorate, indicating intracellular iodine-induction of autophagy, but this effect was not observed in Nthy-ori 3-1 cells. In conclusion, it is critical to discriminate the effect of iodine incorporated into cells from that of extracellular iodine on thyroid cells. Iodine-uptake competent thyroid cells such as PCCL3 and FRTL5 cells, not Nthy-ori 3-1 cells, should be used for studies on iodine effect on thyroid cells.