Transfection with Sodium Iodine Symporter Gene (NIS) and Future Applications with Radioiodine Treatment

Abstract

Human sodium iodine symporter gene (NIS) is the responsible factor for the effectiveness of radioiodine treatment in differentiated thyroid carcinoma. Previous studies in the literature have shown that loss of the NIS gene expression is the reason of ineffective treatment and dedifferentiation of the thyroid cancer. Definitely radioiodine treatment is the most effective cancer treatment method in the world. Probable applications of this treatment to the other types of tumors (like breast cancer, prostate cancer ect.) was the expected and wanted outcome of previous related studies which would be preferable to any kind of other treatments like chemo or radiation therapy. This has been achieved by transfection of cell lines with NIS gene by viruses. Additionally there have been these kinds of studies in the literature however none of these studies consist a stimulating factor like thyrotropin (TSH) for thyroid carcinoma. In radioiodine treatment the cornerstone of the treatment modality is the increased TSH levels in the plasma which can be achieved by withdrawal of thyroid hormone or recombinant TSH preparations. The TSH rich environment is the requirement of radioiodine treatment protocol. The future direction in radioiodine treatment would be the addition of a stimulating factor in the treatment environment. This stimulating factor might be TSH or other stimulants for various different cancer types like prostate specific antigen (PSA).