New mechanisms of sodium iodide Symporter Repression

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Thyroid cancer is relatively common, and growing in incidence. A main treatment option for thyroid cancer is radioactive iodide, which is concentrated in the thyroid, and then kills cancer cells. One problem with this is that the protein NIS which helps thyroid cells take up the radioactive iodide is not as active in cancer cells as it is in normal cells. This means that the treatment is not as effective as it could be. We are aiming to change this. We have discovered that two genes called PTTG and PBF reduce the ability of the NIS to function. We therefore want to explore how we can overcome this effect, particularly because thyroid and other cancers have high levels of PTTG and PBF. If we can prevent PTTG and PBF from stopping NIS uptaking radioactive iodide, this should improve therapy and mean that this treatment might also work better in other cancers in which radioactive iodide is being tested.