Growth inhibition of human thyroid carcinoma and goiter cells in vitro by the isoflavone derivative 7-(O)-carboxymethyl daidzein conjugated to N-t-boc-hexylenediamine.

Background: Estrogens may enhance thyroid cancer cell growth. We have recently reported that a novel isoflavone-derived anti-estrogenic compound developed in our laboratory, the N-t-boc-hexylenediamine derivative of 7-(O)-carboxymethyl daidzein (cD-tboc), can induce apoptosis and retard growth in human thyroid carcinoma cell lines through inhibitory interaction on estrogen receptor β. Here we tested the hypothesis that cD-tboc can likewise retard cell growth in cultured human thyroid papillary carcinoma cells, normal thyroid cells, and goiter cells removed during thyroidectomy.

Galectin-3 promotes chronic activation of K-Ras and differentiation block in malignant thyroid carcinomas.

Anaplastic thyroid carcinomas are deadly tumors that are highly invasive, particularly into the bones. Although oncogenic Ras can transform thyroid cells into a severely malignant phenotype, thyroid carcinomas do not usually harbor ras gene mutations. Therefore, it is not known whether chronically active Ras contributes to thyroid carcinoma cell proliferation, although galectin-3 (Gal-3), which is strongly expressed in thyroid carcinomas but not in benign tumors or normal glands, is known to act as a K-Ras chaperone that stabilizes and drives K-Ras.

Recent advances in thyroid research: selective thyroid hormone receptor modulators (STRMs).

Compounds have been designed and tested exhibiting some of the beneficial effects of thyroid hormones, such as lowering of cholesterol and weight reduction, without the adverse thyroid hormone action on heart rate. Progress has also been made in attempting to treat hyperthyroidism by synthesizing antagonists that block thyroid hormone action, at the level of the thyroid hormone receptor or of the thyrotropin receptor. Clinical trials are still awaited, however, to verify whether these potentially promising agents will indeed prove to be of clinical therapeutic value.