Radioiodine Therapy in Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: The First Targeted Therapy in Oncology

Iodide uptake across the membranes of thyroid follicular cells and cancer cells occurs through an active transport process mediated by the sodium-iodide symporter (NIS). The rat and human NIS-coding genes were cloned and identified in 1996. Evaluation of NIS gene and protein expression is critical for the management of thyroid cancer, and several approaches to increase NIS levels have been tried. Identification of the NIS gene has provided a means of expanding its role in radionuclide therapy and molecular target-specific theragnosis (therapy and diagnosis using the same molecular target). In this article, we describe the relationship between NIS expression and the thyroid carcinoma treatment using I-131 and alternative therapeutic approaches.