Evaluation of potential sodium-iodide symporter (NIS) inhibitors using a secondary Fischer rat thyroid follicular cell (FRTL-5) radioactive iodide uptake (RAIU) assay

The Fischer rat thyroid follicular cell line (FRTL-5) endogenously expresses the sodium-iodide symporter (NIS) and has been used to identify environmental chemicals that perturb thyroid hormone homeostasis by disruption of NIS-mediated iodide uptake. Previously, a high-throughput radioactive iodide uptake (RAIU) screening assay incorporating the hNIS-HEK293T-EPA cell line was used to identify potential human NIS (hNIS) inhibitors in 1028 ToxCast Phase I (ph1_v2) and Phase II chemicals. In this study, the FRTL-5 cell line was evaluated and applied as a secondary RAIU assay coupled with cell viability assays to further prioritize highly active NIS inhibitors from the earlier screening. Assay validation with ten reference chemicals and performance assessment by chemical controls suggest the FRTL-5 based assays are robust and highly reproducible. Top-ranked chemicals from the ToxCast screening were then evaluated in both FRTL-5 and hNIS RAIU assays using newly sourced chemicals to strengthen the testing paradigm and to enable a rat vs. human species comparison. Eighteen of 29 test chemicals showed less than 1 order of magnitude difference in IC50 values between the two assays. Notably, two common perfluorinated compounds, perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS), demonstrated strong NIS inhibitory activity [IC50 − 6.45 (PFOS) and − 5.70 (PFHxS) log M in FRTL-5 RAIU assay]. In addition, several chemicals including etoxazole, methoxyfenozide, oxyfluorfen, triclocarban, mepanipyrim, and niclosamide also exhibited NIS inhibition with minimal cytotoxicity in both assays and are proposed for additional testing using short-term in vivo assays to characterize effects on thyroid hormone synthesis.