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Taking up iodide in breast tissue

Nature volume 406, pages 688–689 (2000)Cite this article

Iodinated compounds are essential for the normal growth and development of vertebrates. The thyroid gland actively accumulates iodide from the blood against an electrochemical gradient, and incorporates it into thyroxine and tri-idodothyronine hormones, which control the basal meta-bolic rates of many cells. It has been known for at least 60 years that the breast also concentrates iodide, secreting it into milk3. Nursing infants synthesize essential thyroid hormones using iodide from breast milk. Active transport of iodide into the thyroid is mediated by the NIS4,5, which simultaneously transports two different ions — sodium and iodide — in the same direction across the plasma membrane of thyroid cells. Tazebay et al.2 now show that the NIS also concentrates iodide in normal lactating breast ducts.

During pregnancy and lactation, dramatic changes occur in the normal mammalian breast. During pregnancy, breast enlargement results from hormonally stimulated, rapid proliferation of epithelial cells of breast alveoli and ducts. The synthesis in the pituitary gland of the milk precursor protein prolactin also increases, peaking at birth with production of milk. Suckling further stimulates prolactin synthesis, leading to more milk production. Tazebay et al. find that the NIS protein is present in mammary tissue in mice just before birth and during lactation, but that NIS expression is significantly decreased at weaning. If suckling begins again, NIS levels rise, suggesting that NIS expression is hormonally regulated. Experimentally, a combination of oestrogen, oxytocin and prolactin — the hormones present during natural lactation — most effectively induces NIS expression in mammary tissues. In the breast-cancer cell line MCF-7, retinoic acid has also been shown to stimulate NIS expression and radioiodide uptake6.

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Figure 1: Expression of the sodium–iodide symporter (NIS) in breast tissue.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Genetics, Seattle, 98195, Washington , USA

    Piri L. Welcsh & David A. Mankoff

  2. Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195, Washington , USA

    Piri L. Welcsh & David A. Mankoff

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  1. Piri L. Welcsh
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  2. David A. Mankoff
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Correspondence to Piri L. Welcsh or David A. Mankoff.

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Welcsh, P., Mankoff, D. Taking up iodide in breast tissue. Nature 406, 688–689 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35021173

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