A non-pump function of sodium iodide symporter in thyroid cancer via crosstalk with PTEN signaling

The sodium iodide symporter (NIS) is a classical iodide pump typically localized within the cell plasma membrane in thyroid cells, where NIS expression is believed to ensure success of mainstay radioiodide therapy in thyroid cancers. Although radioiodide uptake is generally reduced in thyroid cancer tissue, intracellular non-membranous NIS has been reported to increase, suggesting that NIS serves a pump-independent function. Thyroid cancer is one of the major component cancers of Cowden syndrome, a subset of which is caused by germline mutations in PTEN. In this study, we explored the non-canonical tumorigenic role of NIS in thyroid cancer cells in relation to PTEN signaling. PTEN knockdown in thyroid cancer cell lines stabilized intracellular NIS protein by promoting an interaction with NIS-LARG (leukemia associated RhoA guanine exchange factor). Increased protein levels of cytoplasmic NIS enhanced RhoA activation and resulted in a pro-migration tumorigenic phenotype. Inhibition of NIS glycosylation through activation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway contributed to mislocalization of NIS in the cytoplasm, facilitating its non-pump tumorigenic function through an interaction with LARG, which predominantly localized in the cytoplasm. Moreover, PTEN or PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling could affect DPAGT1, a glycosylating enzyme involved in the initial step of N-linked glycosylation, to inhibit glycosylation of NIS. In summary, our results elucidate a pump-independent, pro-tumorigenic role for NIS in thyroid cancer via its crosstalk with PTEN signaling.

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