Presumed Pathogenic Germ Line and Somatic Variants in African American Thyroid Cancer.

African American (AA) thyroid cancer patients have worse prognoses than European Americans (EA), which has been attributed to both health care disparities and possible genetic differences. We investigated the impact of both germ line and somatic variants on clinical outcome in a cohort of AA nonmedullary thyroid cancer (NMTC) patients who had received therapeutic intervention from cancer centers. Whole-exome sequencing was performed on DNA from available blood/normal tissues ( = 37) and paired tumor samples ( = 32) collected from 37 and 29 AA NMTC patients, respectively.

Combined Vorinostat and Chloroquine Inhibit Sodium-Iodide Symporter Endocytosis and Enhance Radionuclide Uptake In Vivo.

Purpose: Patients with aggressive thyroid cancer are frequently failed by the central therapy of ablative radioiodide (RAI) uptake, due to reduced plasma membrane (PM) localization of the sodium/iodide symporter (NIS). We aimed to understand how NIS is endocytosed away from the PM of human thyroid cancer cells, and whether this was druggable in vivo.

Experimental Design: Informed by analysis of endocytic gene expression in patients with aggressive thyroid cancer, we used mutagenesis, NanoBiT interaction assays, cell surface biotinylation assays, RAI uptake, and NanoBRET to understand the mechanisms of NIS endocytosis in transformed cell lines and patient-derived human primary thyroid cells.

Personalized radioiodine therapy for thyroid cancer patients with known disease.

Radioactive iodine (RAI) I is a targeted therapy for patients with RAI-avid follicular cell-derived thyroid cancer. However, the responsiveness to I therapy varies among thyroid cancer patients mainly owing to differential RAI uptake and RAI radiosensitivity among patients' lesions. A personalized approach to maximize I therapeutic efficacy is proposed based on recent scientific advances and future opportunities.

Na+/I- symporter expression, function, and regulation in non-thyroidal tissues and impact on thyroid cancer therapy.

For the past 80 years, radioiodine (131I) has been used to ablate thyroid tissue not removed by surgery or to treat differentiated thyroid cancer that has metastasized to other parts of the body. However, the Na+/I- symporter (NIS), which mediates active iodide uptake into thyroid follicular cells, is also expressed in several non-thyroidal tissues. This NIS expression permits 131I accumulation and radiation damage in these non-target tissues, which accounts for the adverse effects of radioiodine therapy.

Two distinct E3 ligases, SCF and HECW1, degrade thyroid transcription factor 1 in normal thyroid epithelial and follicular thyroid carcinoma cells, respectively.

Thyroid transcription factor 1 (TTF1) regulates the tissue-specific expression of genes. However, the molecular regulation of TTF1 in thyroid normal and carcinoma cells has not been revealed. Here we identify 2 distinct ubiquitin E3 ligases that are responsible for TTF1 degradation in normal thyroid cells and carcinoma cells, respectively.

Risk Haplotypes Uniquely Associated with Radioiodine-Refractory Thyroid Cancer Patients of High African Ancestry.

Background: Thyroid cancer patients with radioiodine-refractory (RAI-R) disease, resulting from insufficient RAI delivery and/or RAI resistance, have increased mortality and limited treatment options. To date, studies have largely focused on tumor mutations associated with different stages of disease, which could provide prognostic value for RAI-R disease. It was hypothesized that germline variants contributing to intrinsic differences in iodine metabolism, tumor microenvironment, and/or immune surveillance are associated with RAI-R disease.

A Nonpump Function of Sodium Iodide Symporter in Thyroid Cancer via Cross-talk with PTEN Signaling.

The sodium iodide symporter (NIS) is a classical iodide pump typically localized within the cell plasma membrane in thyroid cells, where NIS expression is believed to ensure success of mainstay radioiodide therapy in thyroid cancers. Although radioiodide uptake is generally reduced in thyroid cancer tissue, intracellular nonmembranous NIS has been reported to increase, suggesting that NIS serves a pump-independent function. Thyroid cancer is one of the major component cancers of Cowden syndrome, a subset of which is caused by germline mutations in In this study, we explored the noncanonical tumorigenic role of NIS in thyroid cancer cells in relation to PTEN signaling.

The rs2910164 Genetic Variant of miR-146a-3p Is Associated with Increased Overall Mortality in Patients with Follicular Variant Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.

Aberrant expression of the sodium-iodide symporter (NIS) and the resistance to post-operative radioactive iodide treatment is a crucial cause of higher mortality of some thyroid cancer patients. In this study, we analyzed the impact of miR-146a on the expression and function of NIS and on the overall survival of thyroid cancer patients. The study included 2441 patients (2163 women; 278 men); including 359 cases with follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma (fvPTC).

Modeling and calibrating nonlinearity and crosstalk in back focal plane interferometry for three-dimensional position detection.

Back focal plane (BFP) interferometry is frequently used to detect the motion of a single laser trapped bead in a photonic force microscope (PFM) system. Whereas this method enables high-speed and high-resolution position measurement, its measurement range is limited by nonlinearity coupled with crosstalk in three-dimensional (3-D) measurement, and validation of its measurement accuracy is not trivial. This Letter presents an automated calibration system in conjunction with a 3-D quadratic model to render rapid and accurate calibration of the laser measurement system.

ablation promotes thyroid tumorigenesis by inducing a stem-like phenotype.

Mutations in genes encoding enzymes in the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA, also known as the Krebs cycle) have been implicated as causative genetic lesions in a number of human cancers, including renal cell cancers, glioblastomas and pheochromocytomas. In recent studies, missense mutations in the succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) complex have also been proposed to cause differentiated thyroid cancer. In order to gain mechanistic insight into this process, we generated mice lacking the SDH subunit D (Sdhd) in the thyroid.

Automated MicroSPECT/MicroCT Image Analysis of the Mouse Thyroid Gland.

Background: The ability of thyroid follicular cells to take up iodine enables the use of radioactive iodine (RAI) for imaging and targeted killing of RAI-avid thyroid cancer following thyroidectomy. To facilitate identifying novel strategies to improve I therapeutic efficacy for patients with RAI refractory disease, it is desired to optimize image acquisition and analysis for preclinical mouse models of thyroid cancer.

Methods: A customized mouse cradle was designed and used for microSPECT/CT image acquisition at 1 hour (t1) and 24 hours (t24) post injection of I, which mainly reflect RAI influx/efflux equilibrium and RAI retention in the thyroid, respectively.

Risk Factors of I-Induced Salivary Gland Damage in Thyroid Cancer Patients.

Context: Sialadenitis and xerostomia are major adverse effects of I therapy in thyroid cancer patients. The risk factors for these adverse effects, other than administered activity of I, have not been investigated.

Objective: The aim of this study is to identify risk factors for I-induced salivary gland damage among follicular cell-derived thyroid cancer patients.

Correlative Studies in Clinical Trials: A Position Statement From the International Thyroid Oncology Group.

Objective: Patients with progressive thyroid cancer in distant metastatic sites represent a population with a need for new therapeutic options. Aspiring to improve the treatment of such patients, the objective of this position statement from the International Thyroid Oncology Group (ITOG) is to clarify the importance of incorporating high-quality correlative studies into clinical trials.

Participants: ITOG was formed to develop and support high-quality multicenter and multidisciplinary clinical trials for patients with aggressive forms of thyroid cancer.

Modulation of thyroidal radioiodide uptake by oncological pipeline inhibitors and Apigenin.

Targeted radioiodine therapy for thyroid cancer is based on selective stimulation of Na+/I- Symporter (NIS)-mediated radioactive iodide uptake (RAIU) in thyroid cells by thyrotropin. Patients with advanced thyroid cancer do not benefit from radioiodine therapy due to reduced or absent NIS expression. To identify inhibitors that can be readily translated into clinical care, we examined oncological pipeline inhibitors targeting Akt, MEK, PI3K, Hsp90 or BRAF in their ability to increase RAIU in thyroid cells expressing BRAFV600E or RET/PTC3 oncogene.

microRNA-339-5p modulates Na+/I- symporter-mediated radioiodide uptake.

Na(+)/I(-) symporter (NIS)-mediated radioiodide uptake (RAIU) serves as the basis for targeted ablation of thyroid cancer remnants. However, many patients with thyroid cancer have reduced NIS expression/function and hence do not benefit from radioiodine therapy. microRNA (miR) has emerged as a promising therapeutic target in many diseases; yet, the role of miRs in NIS-mediated RAIU has not been investigated.

Modulation of sodium iodide symporter in thyroid cancer.

Radioactive iodine (RAI) is a key therapeutic modality for thyroid cancer. Loss of RAI uptake in thyroid cancer inversely correlates with patient's survival. In this review, we focus on the challenges encountered in delivering sufficient doses of I-131 to eradicate metastatic lesions without increasing the risk of unwanted side effects.

Quantitative characterization of cell behaviors through cell cycle progression via automated cell tracking.

Cell behaviors are reflections of intracellular tension dynamics and play important roles in many cellular processes. In this study, temporal variations in cell geometry and cell motion through cell cycle progression were quantitatively characterized via automated cell tracking for MCF-10A non-transformed breast cells, MCF-7 non-invasive breast cancer cells, and MDA-MB-231 highly metastatic breast cancer cells. A new cell segmentation method, which combines the threshold method and our modified edge based active contour method, was applied to optimize cell boundary detection for all cells in the field-of-view.

Apigenin in combination with Akt inhibition significantly enhances thyrotropin-stimulated radioiodide accumulation in thyroid cells.

Background: Selectively increased radioiodine accumulation in thyroid cells by thyrotropin (TSH) allows targeted treatment of thyroid cancer. However, the extent of TSH-stimulated radioiodine accumulation in some thyroid tumors is not sufficient to confer therapeutic efficacy. Hence, it is of clinical importance to identify novel strategies to selectively further enhance TSH-stimulated thyroidal radioiodine accumulation.

Real-time visual sensing system achieving high-speed 3D particle tracking with nanometer resolution.

This paper presents a real-time visual sensing system, which is created to achieve high-speed three-dimensional (3D) motion tracking of microscopic spherical particles in aqueous solutions with nanometer resolution. The system comprises a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) camera, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and real-time image processing programs. The CMOS camera has high photosensitivity and superior SNR.

Ernest L. Mazzaferri, MD, MACP (1936-2013).

Professor and physician Dr. Ernest L. Mazzaferri Sr.

Modulation of sodium/iodide symporter expression in the salivary gland.

Background: Physiologic iodide-uptake, mediated by the sodium/iodide symporter (NIS), in the salivary gland confers its susceptibility to radioactive iodine-induced damage following (131)I treatment of thyroid cancer. Subsequent quality of life for thyroid cancer survivors can be decreased due to recurrent sialoadenitis and persistent xerostomia. NIS expression at the three principal salivary duct components in various pathological conditions was examined to better our understanding of NIS modulation in the salivary gland.

MEK inhibition leads to lysosome-mediated Na+/I- symporter protein degradation in human breast cancer cells.

The Na(+)/I(-) symporter (NIS (SLC5A5)) is a transmembrane glycoprotein that mediates active iodide uptake into thyroid follicular cells. NIS-mediated iodide uptake in thyroid cells is the basis for targeted radionuclide imaging and treatment of differentiated thyroid carcinomas and their metastases. Furthermore, NIS is expressed in many human breast tumors but not in normal non-lactating breast tissue, suggesting that NIS-mediated radionuclide uptake may also allow the imaging and targeted therapy of breast cancer.

Efficient delivery of cyclic peptides into mammalian cells with short sequence motifs.

Cyclic peptides hold great potential as therapeutic agents and research tools, but their broad application has been limited by poor membrane permeability. Here, we report a potentially general approach for intracellular delivery of cyclic peptides. Short peptide motifs rich in arginine and hydrophobic residues (e.