Diminished binding of thyroid-stimulating hormone in a transplantable rat thyroid tumor as a possible cause of hormone unresponsiveness.

The adenylate cyclase activity and the binding of 125I-labeled thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) of normal and tumor rat thyroid plasma membranes were compared. No significant difference in the basal and fluoride-sensitive adenylate cyclase activity between normal and tumor plasma membranes was observed. Thyroid plasma membranes responded to TSH, whereas the enzyme from the tumor plasma membranes was TSH insensitive. Thyroid plasma membranes boud 125I-TSH. Tumor plasma membranes bound 125I-TSH poorly. At the highest concentration of unlabeled TSH used, 80% of the 125I-TSH that was bound to thyroid plasma membranes was displaced, whereas only 10% of the 125I-TSH bound to tumor plasma membranes was displaced. Therefore, it seems likely that the failure of this tumor to respond to TSH is due to an alteration in the functional unit of membrane adenylate cyclase at the level of the receptor subunit.