Introduction: Hypoxic stress is a feature of rapidly growing thyroid tumours. Cancer progression is thought to be driven by a small population of tumour cells possessing stem cell properties. Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are important mediators of hypoxia. Both HIF-1alpha and HIF-2alpha have been reported to be expressed in thyroid cancers. There is growing evidence that the HIF pathway plays a significant role in the maintenance of thyroid cancer stem cells (CSC).
Methodology: We have isolated thyroid CSC from a papillary thyroid cancer-derived cell line (BCPAP) and an anaplastic thyroid cancer-derived cell line (SW1736) as side population (SP) cells (a putative stem cell population) and treated them with cobalt chloride (II) to induce hypoxia. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: We observed an increase in the SP of cells within the thyroid cancer cell lines following induction of hypoxia.