The Molecular Effect of Diagnostic Absorbed Doses from (131)I on Papillary Thyroid Cancer Cells In Vitro

Diagnostic whole-body scan is a standard procedure in patients with thyroid cancer prior to the application of a therapeutic dose of (131)I. Unfortunately, administration of the radioisotope in a diagnostic dose may decrease further radioiodine uptake—the phenomenon called “thyroid stunning”. We estimated radiation absorbed dose-dependent changes in genetic material, in particular in the sodium iodide symporter (NIS) gene promoter, and the NIS protein level in a K1 cell line derived from the metastasis of a human papillary thyroid carcinoma exposed to (131)I in culture. The different activities applied were calculated to result in absorbed doses of 5, 10 and 20 Gy. Radioiodine did not affect the expression of the NIS gene at the mRNA level, however, we observed significant changes in the NIS protein level in K1 cells. The decrease of the NIS protein level observed in the cells subjected to the lowest absorbed dose was paralleled by a significant increase in 8-oxo-dG concentrations (p < 0.01) and followed by late activation of the DNA repair pathways. Our findings suggest that the impact of (131)I radiation on thyroid cells, in the range compared to doses absorbed during diagnostic procedures, is not linear and depends on various factors including the cellular components of thyroid pathology.