Resveratrol increases iodide trapping in the rat thyroid cell line FRTL-5.

Background: Resveratrol, a polyphenol found in grapes, exhibits several beneficial health effects by its antioxidant, antiinflammatory, and chemopreventive properties. The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of resveratrol on iodide trapping and efflux as well as its mode of action using FRTL-5 cells, having in mind the pivotal role of the natrium iodide symporter (NIS) in the treatment of differentiated thyroid cancers.

Methods: Cells were treated with resveratrol for various times and doses, in the presence or absence of thyrotropin (TSH). Iodide trapping, iodide efflux, rat NIS (rNIS) protein expression, and cyclic AMP (cAMP) production were evaluated.

Results: Resveratrol increased iodide trapping in a time-dependent (optimal 6 hours) and dose-dependent (100 microM) way in the presence of TSH. It showed an additive effect when concomitantly added with an optimal dose of TSH. Resveratrol (50 microM) increased (threefold) rNIS protein expression. In TSH-deprived cells, resveratrol also provoked an increase in rNIS protein (>3-fold in 6 hours) with an optimum at 40 microM. Resveratrol did not inhibit iodide efflux from FRTL-5 cells. It neither increased intracellular cAMP nor induced the arborization of living cells, two TSH-induced effects. A non-cAMP mode of action is highly suspected.

Conclusions: Resveratrol increases iodide trapping in FRTL-5 cells, increasing iodide influx and rNIS protein level even in the absence of TSH. It has an additive effect with TSH. Consequently, resveratrol could be a promising molecule for radioiodide therapy in follicular and papillary differentiated thyroid carcinoma in association with recombinant human TSH.