Radioiodide uptake and sodium iodide symporter expression in breast carcinoma

expression was positive in 41.66% (10/24) samples of Tu-Br. None of the N-Br samples expressed NIS gene. In 14 samples of Tu-Br, RAI uptake as well as NIS expression was studied. In 50% of these Tu-Br samples RAI uptake as well as of NIS gene expression was positive. The results indicate that RAI uptake is significantly higher in breast tumor tissues as compared to their normal counterpart and in future radioiodine may be an important agent for treatment of breast cancer. Breast cancer is a major public health problem affecting millions of women globally. In India, it is the most common cancer in women in many regions and an increasing trend in the incidence rate has been observed over a period of time 1 . Hence, search for novel diagnostic and therapeutic modalities is an ongoing process more so to treat patients with tumors resistant to conventional therapies such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormonal treatment. Radioiodine ( 131 I) has been effectively used for the post-operative management of differentiated thyroid carcinoma for many decades 2 . Iodide is accumulated in the thyroid by means of a highly specialized active iodide transport mechanism catalyzed by the sodium- iodide symporter (NIS), a glycoprotein located in the basolateral plasma membrane of the thyroid follicular cells 3 . NIS-catalyzed iodide accumulation is a sodium dependant active transport driven by the sodium gradient maintained by the sodium/potassium