MINI REVIEW article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Thyroid Endocrinology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1567405
The extra-thyroidal distribution of sodium iodide symporter (NIS)
Provisionally accepted
- University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
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The intrinsic transmembrane protein known as sodium iodide symporter (NIS) facilitates the active transport of iodide across the basolateral membrane of thyroid follicular cells. Iodine is an essential molecule that is used to produce the classical thyroid hormones that contribute to growth and development of various parts of the body and play a significant role as metabolic regulators. The cloning of the human NIS gene in 1996 has led to widespread advancements in thyroid-related research. Amongst these, the significant discovery of extra-thyroidal expression of thyroid-specific genes and proteins such as NIS in both human and non-human subjects has been well documented. The identification of NIS protein in non-thyroid tissue provides potential targets for therapeutic interventions aimed at modulating autoimmune responses in various parts of the body. In the diagnosis and prognosis of different types of cancer, the molecular and protein expression of NIS may prove to be an important cancer biomarker. This review will cover the extra-thyroidal distribution of NIS, as well as its pathophysiological implications in various tissues of human and non-human organs.
Keywords: sodium-iodide symporter, thyroid-specific protein, extra-thyroidal expression, cellular and molecular distribution NIS -sodium iodide symporter I --iodide THs -thyroid hormones, Auto-immune thyroid disease
Received: 27 Jan 2025; Accepted: 10 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gadisi, Naicker and Naidoo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Meleshni Naicker, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
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