Extracellular superoxide dismutase is a thyroid differentiation marker down-regulated in cancer

Reactive oxygen species, specifically hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), have a significant role in hormone production in thyroid tissue. Although recent studies have demonstrated that dual oxidases are responsible for the H2O2 synthesis needed in thyroid hormone production, our data suggest a pivotal role for superoxide dismutase 3 (SOD3) as a major H2O2-producing enzyme. According to our results, Sod3 is highly expressed in normal thyroid, and becomes even more abundant in rat goiter models. We showed TSH-stimulated expression of Sod3 via phospholipase C-Ca2+ and cAMP-protein kinase A, a pathway that might be disrupted in thyroid cancer. In line with this finding, we demonstrated an oncogene-dependent decrease in Sod3 mRNA expression synthesis in thyroid cancer cell models that corresponded to a similar decrease in clinical patient samples, suggesting that SOD3 could be used as a differentiation marker in thyroid cancer. Finally, the functional analysis in thyroid models indicated a moderate role for SOD3 in regulating normal thyroid cell proliferation being in line with our previous observations. Endocrine-Related Cancer (2010) 17 785-796