Tamoxifen inhibits growth, migration, and invasion of human follicular and papillary thyroid cancer cells in vitro and in vivo.

Prognosis of differentiated thyroid cancer is best in young women. It has been proposed that sex steroids protect premenopausal women from aggressive thyroid malignancies. Some thyroid tissues have estrogen receptors, and estrogen stimulates human thyroid cells. Tamoxifen is thought to exert its antiproliferative effects mainly by blocking estrogen stimulation. However, recently, mechanisms independent of estrogen interactions were found to be important for the favorable effect. We investigated the effect of tamoxifen on the growth, migration, and invasion in three follicular thyroid cancer cell lines (FTC133, primary; FTC236, lymph node; and FTC238, lung metastasis) from one patient and two papillary lines (PTC-UC1 and PTC-UC3). Growth was measured by dimethylthiazol-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assays, and migration was determined by the ability of cells to penetrate 8-microns pore membranes, which were covered by Matrigel for invasion assays. For in vivo experiments, we used xenografts of FTC133 in nude mice. Tamoxifen (1.5 mumol/L) inhibited the growth of all thyroid cancer cell lines (FTC133, 59%; FTC236, 42%; FTC238, 46%; P < 0.01). This effect was less pronounced in PTC-UC1 (25%) and PTC-UC3 (19%; P < 0.006) cell lines. Tamoxifen also inhibited migration and invasion of FTC more than PTC. Invasion of FTC133 was inhibited by 36% (P < 0.01), FTC236 by 30%, and FTC238 by 32%. Immunohistochemistry showed no estrogen receptors in any cell line. Also, estradiol had no significant effect on the growth, migration, or invasion of FTC or PTC. Tamoxifen treatment inhibited the growth of FTC133 xenografts in nude mice by 52% compared to that in placebo-treated controls (P < 0.002). In conclusion, tamoxifen inhibited the growth, migration, and invasion of differentiated thyroid cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. This was not reversed by estrogen. Tamoxifen acts independently of estrogen interactions and may be useful as an adjuvant treatment for some differentiated human thyroid malignancies.