Arquivos Brasileiros de Endocrinologia & Metabologia
On-line version ISSN 1677-9487
NAMBA, Hiroyuki; SAENKO, Vladimir and YAMASHITA, Shunichi. Nuclear factor-kB in thyroid carcinogenesis and progression: a novel therapeutic target for advanced thyroid cancer. Arq Bras Endocrinol Metab [online]. 2007, vol.51, n.5, pp. 843-851. ISSN 1677-9487. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0004-27302007000500023.
Apoptosis is an essential physiological process of elimination of destined cells during the development and differentiation or after damage from external stresses such as ionizing radiation or chemotherapeutic agents. Disruption of apoptosis is proved to cause various diseases including cancer. Among numerous molecules involved in diverse anti- or pro-apoptotic signaling pathways, NF-kB is one of the key factors controlling anti-apoptotic responses. Its anti-apoptotic effect is thought to be mediated through not only transcriptional activation of dependent genes but also by crosstalking with the JNK pathway. Oncogenic proteins such as Ret/PTC, Ras and BRAF can induce NF-kB activation making it an important change in thyroid cancer. A number of specific or non-specific NF-kB inhibitors have been tried to take over the cascade in in vitro and in vivo experiments. These agents can induce massive apoptosis especially in combination with radio- or chemotherapy. Current results suggest that the inhibition of the NF-kB may be a promising strategy for advanced thyroid cancer treatment but further investigations are warranted to develop specific and clinically effective NF-kB inhibitors in future.
Keywords : Thyroid cancer; Apoptosis; NF-kB; Molecular target therapy.