Direct progression of capsular invasive carcinomas from subcapsular focal hyperplasias induced by hypothyroidism-mediated tumor promotion in a rat two-stage thyroid carcinogenesis model

Purpose Some goitrogens promote thyroid carcinogenesis in rats in an initiation-promotion model; this model frequently produces carcinomas that invade fibrously thickened capsules, termed capsular invasive carcinomas (CICs). The present study tested a hypothesis that CICs originate from parenchymal proliferative lesions located beneath the capsule. Methods Cell proliferation activity, cell-cycle kinetics and cellular invasion were immunohistochemically examined in subcapsular proliferative lesions in male F344 rats treated with an anti-thyroid agent, propylthiouracil or sulfadimethoxine, during the tumor-promotion phase after initiation with N -bis(2-hydroxypropyl)nitrosamine. Results Focal follicular cell hyperplasias (FFCHs) were the most commonly observed parenchymal proliferative lesions. Subcapsular FFCHs located near CICs showed more Ki-67 + cells in the capsular side than the contrary parenchymal center side. Most of these FFCHs located near CICs showed accumulated immunoreactivity for cyclin A, cyclin D, cyclin E and cyclin-dependent kinase-2, whereas most subcapsular FFCHs located elsewhere did not show such accumulated expression of cell-cycle molecules. Subcapsular FFCHs immunoreactive at the capsular front for tenascin-C, a tumor invasion marker of extracellular matrix protein, showed high proliferation activity. Conclusions Subcapsular FFCH-forming cells can potentially spread directly into the fibrously thickened capsule to form CICs by accelerating cell-cycle activity.