Targeting GLI1 Transcription Factor for Restoring Iodine Avidity with Redifferentiation in Radioactive-Iodine Refractory Thyroid Cancers.
Ji Min OhRamya Lakshmi RajendranPrakash GangadaranChae Moon HongJu Hye JeongJaetae LeeByeong-Cheol AhnPublished in: Cancers (2022)
Radioactive-iodine (RAI) therapy is the mainstay for patients with recurrent and metastatic thyroid cancer. However, many patients exhibit dedifferentiation characteristics along with lack of sodium iodide symporter (NIS) functionality, low expression of thyroid-specific proteins, and poor RAI uptake, leading to poor prognosis. Previous studies have demonstrated the effect of GLI family zinc finger 1 (GLI1) inhibition on tumor growth and apoptosis. In this study, we investigated the role of GLI1 in the context of redifferentiation and improvement in the efficacy of RAI therapy for thyroid cancer. We evaluated GLI1 expression in several thyroid cancer cell lines and selected TPC-1 and SW1736 cell lines showing the high expression of GLI. We performed GLI1 knockdown and evaluated the changes of thyroid-specific proteins expression, RAI uptake and I-131-mediated cytotoxicity. The effect of GANT61 (GLI1 inhibitor) on endogenous NIS expression was also assessed. Endogenous NIS expression upregulated by inhibiting GLI1, in addition, increased expression level in plasma membrane. Also, GLI1 knockdown increased expression of thyroid-specific proteins. Restoration of thyroid-specific proteins increased RAI uptake and I-131-mediated cytotoxic effect. Treatment with GANT61 also increased expression of endogenous NIS. Targeting GLI1 can be a potential strategy with redifferentiation for restoring RAI avidity in dedifferentiated thyroid cancers.
Keyphrases
- poor prognosis
- long non coding rna
- binding protein
- transcription factor
- squamous cell carcinoma
- small cell lung cancer
- computed tomography
- mesenchymal stem cells
- drug delivery
- magnetic resonance imaging
- high resolution
- magnetic resonance
- oxidative stress
- end stage renal disease
- prognostic factors
- ejection fraction
- endoplasmic reticulum stress
- replacement therapy