Tumor necrosis factor, ceramide, transforming growth factor-beta1, and aging reduce Na+/I- symporter messenger ribonucleic acid levels in FRTL-5 cells.

Iodide uptake, which is necessary for thyroid hormone synthesis, can be inhibited by aging, withdrawal of TSH, or increased tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1 levels resulting from the nonthyroid illness syndrome. TNF induces receptor-mediated activation of sphingomyelinase, which converts sphingomyelin to ceramide, a mediator of TNF actions. Thyroid follicular cells transport iodide from blood into the follicular lumen against an iodide gradient by means of coupled transport of Na+ ions and I- ions via the Na+/I- symporter (NIS). An inward Na+ gradient is maintained by Na+/K+-ATPase. The recent cloning and sequencing of the rat NIS complementary DNA has made possible studies on the mechanism by which TSH, aging, and cytokines regulate I- uptake by thyroid cells. Young (<20 passages) and aged (>40 passages) FRTL-5 cells grown with or without TSH were treated with various concentrations of TNF, TGF-beta1, sphingomyelinase, or ceramide. NIS messenger RNA (mRNA) levels in aged cells were only 2% of those in young cells. Withdrawal of TSH from young cells reduced NIS mRNA levels by more than 90%. TNF reduced NIS mRNA levels in young cells grown with TSH at t1/2 = 0.62 days, a cycloheximide inhibitable effect. Similar treatments with TGF-beta1, sphingomyelinase, or ceramide reduced NIS mRNA by 70-90%. Ceramide reduced 125I(-)-uptake by 50%. The addition of TNF increased both the sphingomyelin and ceramide levels 3- to 5-fold in young and old cells. We conclude that 1) the decline in iodide uptake due to aging, a fall in serum TSH or an increase in TNF or TGF-beta1 is mediated primarily by a reduction in thyroid NIS expression; and 2) that receptor-mediated activation of sphingomyelinase is an important, protein synthesis-dependent, intracellular pathway for inhibition of NIS expression by TNF.