Iodine-deficiency-induced long lasting angiogenic reaction in thyroid cancers occurs via a vascular endothelial growth factor-hypoxia inducible factor-1-dependent, but not a reactive oxygen species-dependent, pathway.

Background: In the thyroid, iodine deficiency (ID) induces angiogenesis via a tightly controlled reactive oxygen species (ROS)-hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1)-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) dependent pathway (ROS-HIF-VEGF). Deficient iodine intake may be associated with increased thyroid cancer incidence. The hypothesis of this work is to test whether ID affects the angiogenic processes in thyroid malignant cells by altering the ROS-HIF-VEGF pathway.