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Sodium Iodide Symporter and the Radioiodine Treatment of Thyroid Carcinoma

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Abstract

Since the specific accumulation of iodide in thyroid was found in 1915, radioiodine has been widely applied to diagnose and treat thyroid cancer. Iodide uptake occurs across the membrane of the thyroid follicular cells and cancer cells through an active transporter process mediated by the sodium iodide symporter (NIS). The NIS coding genes were cloned and identified from rat and human in 1996. Evaluation of the NIS gene and protein expression is critical in the management of thyroid cancer, and several approaches have been tried to increase NIS levels. Identification of the NIS gene has provided a means of expanding its role in the radionuclide gene therapy of nonthyroidal cancers as well as thyroid cancer. In this article, we explain the relationship between NIS expression and the treatment of thyroid carcinoma with I-131, and we include a review of the results of our experimental and clinical trials.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 28 Yongon-dong, Jongro-gu, Seoul, 110-744, Korea

    June-Key Chung, Hye Won Youn, Ho Young Lee & Keon Wook Kang

  2. Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

    June-Key Chung, Hye Won Youn & Keon Wook Kang

  3. Tumor Immunity Medical Research Center, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

    June-Key Chung, Hye Won Youn & Keon Wook Kang

  4. Research Center of Radiation Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

    June-Key Chung, Hye Won Youn, Ho Young Lee & Keon Wook Kang

  5. Molecular Imaging Research Center, KIRAMS, Seoul, Korea

    Joo Hyun Kang

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  1. June-Key Chung
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Chung, JK., Youn, H.W., Kang, J.H. et al. Sodium Iodide Symporter and the Radioiodine Treatment of Thyroid Carcinoma. Nucl Med Mol Imaging 44, 4–14 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13139-009-0016-1

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