In addition, antiestrogenic congeners, such as PCB-105, have been implicated in thyroid-mediated effects due to high affinity for thyroid hormone binding proteins, leading to disruptions in thyroid hormone signaling (Crofton et al. 2005), which may also disrupt growth and development (Sahu et al. 2009).
miR-221 has been shown to be highly upregulated in pancreatic cancers [12], in glioblastoma [31] and was implicated in thyroid cancer [32].
Upregulation seems to be implicated in thyroid follicular carcinogenesis as an early event and could be considered as tumourprogression marker.
Duoxes are implicated in thyroid hormone biosynthesis [ 43] and innate immunity in lung [ 72], and are distributed in a variety of other tissues where they perform unknown functions.
The WNT/β-catenin pathway has already been implicated in normal thyroid function and in thyroid carcinogenesis (Garcia-Rostan et al. 2001, Castellone et al. 2009).
Deregulation of the receptor tyrosine kinase RET has been implicated in medullary thyroid cancer, a small percentage of lung adenocarcinomas, endocrine-resistant breast cancer and pancreatic cancer.
Several thyroid hormone-responsive genes, including laminin, transient axonal glycoprotein-1, reelin, neurogenic differentiation, rabconnectin 3/neurogranin, and Dab-1, have been implicated in mediating thyroid hormone effects on neurodevelopment (21– 21).
Nitrates are another category of inorganic pollutant that can interfere with animal physiology and in particular with reproductive function; specifically, they have been implicated in altered thyroid function and the disruption of gonadal steroidogenesis (Guillette and Edwards, 2005; Edwards et al., 2006).
Furthermore, while vitamin D deficiency has been implicated in several autoimmune thyroid diseases, no association was elicited between the antibodies measured in the present study and vitamin D, confirming a recent study among Dutch natives about the lack of correlation of low vitamin D levels and the early stages of thyroid auto-immunity [ 22].
One of the principal pathways involved in alteration of migratory activities is PI3K/Akt signaling pathway that has been implicated in driving metastatic phenotype in thyroid [ 104], breast [ 105], and other cancers [ 106], and PI3K activity is further increased by radiotherapy in certain tumors [ 107, 108].
