Human Thyroid Carcinoma Cell Lines and Normal Thyrocytes: Expression and Regulation of Matrix Metalloproteinase-1 and Tissue Matrix Metalloproteinase Inhibitor-1 Messenger-RNA and Protein

Matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) and tissue matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor 1 (TIMP-1) play an important role in remodeling the extracellular matrix in normal and pathological processes. The effect of phorbol-myristate acetate (PMA), interleukin-1 (IL-1), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) on MMP-1 and TIMP-1 expression was studied on highly purified thyrocytes and undifferentiated 8505 C, C 643, HTh 74, SW 1736 thyroid carcinoma cells compared with thyroid-derived fibroblasts. Messenger RNA (mRNA) levels were monitored by competitive semiquantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) after 24 hours. Culture supernatants were assayed for free and/or complexed MMP-1 and TIMP-1 after 48 hours using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) systems (detection limit: <2 ng/mL). MMP-1 and TIMP-1 mRNA were present in all cell types, although thyrocytes showed MMP-1 mRNA levels near the detection limit. 8505 C expressed MMP-1 mRNA levels of up to 10⁶ times those of the other cells analyzed. PMA and IL-1 increased MMP-1 mRNA in most cell types. TIMP-1 mRNA increased after treatment with PMA in all cells except 8505 C, whereas only slight effects were shown after IL-1 stimulation. MMP-1 protein was undetectable in normal thyrocyte cultures, but was secreted spontaneously by all cell lines ([ng/mL]; C 643: 15 ± 7; HTh 74: 81 ± 1; SW 1736: 13 ± 2; 8505C: 2097 ± 320). There was a strong correlation between levels of MMP-1 mRNA and protein (r = 0.99, p <.0001). PMA and IL-1 increased MMP-1 secretion in all cell types after 48 hours. Fibroblasts ([ng/mL] 517 ± 55) and the cell lines (C 643: 142 ± 48; HTh 74: 115 ± 13; SW 1736: 202 ± 14; 8505 C: 120 ± 19) secreted TIMP-1 in unstimulated cultures, whereas only a trace amount was detected in thyrocyte cultures, even after PMA treatment. IL-1 upregulated TIMP-1 secretion after 48 hours in SW 1736, HTh 74, and C 643 cells. Our data suggest that in contrast to normal thyrocytes, dedifferentiated thyroid carcinoma cell lines are potential producers of MMP-1 as well as TIMP-1. High MMP-1 or MMP-l/TIMP-1 expression may play a role in tissue invasion of undifferentiated thyroid cancer cells.