Endocrine Abstracts

The demonstration in extrathyroidal tissues of the sodium iodide symporter (NIS) has raised the possibility that 131I, commonly used as a therapeutic ablative agent in hyperthyroidism and thyroid cancer, might be applied in the treatment of tumours in other NIS expressing tissues such as human breast cancer. As thyroidal uptake of 131I is known to be inversely proportional to circulating stable I- concentration, the aim of this study was to determine how I- would effect such u...

Expression of the Sodium Iodide symporter (NIS) in the breast was thought to be restricted to lactation but recently have been shown in breast cancer and benign breast disease. CpG island methylation of the promoter region of NIS is known to decrease iodide uptake in the thyroid. No such information has been documented in the breast. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of demethylating agents on iodide uptake in breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 (oestrogen (E) and...

The relationship between serum TSH and thyroid autoantibodies is frequently used to classify thyroid disease both overt and subclinical. Further debate has centred on the validity of the cutoff point for serum TSH elevation (generally between 4-5 mU/l) which it has been suggested is inappropriately high. The significance of the presence of thyroid autoantibodies (hereafter termed antibody positivity) in extrathyroidal disease is unclear but an increased prevalence has been rep...