Aberrations of growth factor control in metastatic follicular thyroid cancer in vitro

The aggressiveness of follicular thyroid cancer (FTC) varies widely, and metastasis is the primary cause of death. Uncontrolled proliferation of cancer cells may be associated with loss of growth factor control. We investigated the effects of stimulating (epidermal growth factor [EGF]; thyreotropin [TSH] in low concentrations) and inhibiting growth factors (transforming growth factor beta 1 [TGF beta 1]; TSH in high concentrations) on invasion and growth of FTC cell lines from the thyroid tumor (FTC133) and from the lymph node (FTC236) and lung (FTC238) metastases of the same patient. Invasion-penetration through an 8 microns pore membrane, covered by Matrigel (basement membrane)-and growth were measured using the MTT-method. EGF (10 ng/ml) and TSH in low concentrations (1 mU/ml) stimulated invasion and growth of all FTC cell lines, but the amplitude of stimulation differed significantly. The parental cell line FTC133 was considerably more responsive to growth factor stimulation than the metastatic clones. Invasion of FTC133 was enhanced by 42% (EGF; p < 0.02) and 21% (TSH; p < 0.01), invasion of FTC236 by 8% (EGF; p < 0.02) and 8% (TSH; p < 0.01), and invasion of FTC238 by 9% (EGF; p < 0.02) and 8% (TSH; p < 0.01). Conversely, invasion and growth of FTC133 were significantly more inhibited by TGF beta 1 (10 ng/ml) and supraphysiologic concentrations of TSH (100 mU/ml) than the cell lines from the lymph node and lung metastases. At day 7, invasion of FTC133 was inhibited by 32% (TGF beta 1; p < 0.02) and 21% (TSH; p < 0.01), invasion of FTC236 by 18% (TGF beta 1; p < 0.02) and 11% (TSH; p < 0.01), and invasion of FTC238 by 16% (TGF beta 1; p < 0.02) and 12% (TSH; p < 0.01). Moreover, we analyzed growth factor independence in minimally supplemented or unsupplemented medium. Growth, but no invasion was evident when cells were cultured completely unsupplemented over 7 days. These results suggest that metastatic FTCs may have developed by escaping from the normal control of TSH and other growth factors.