Functional Characterization of Olfactory Receptors in the Thyroid Gland

Daniel Weidinger; Nikolina Jovancevic; Denise Zwanziger; Sarah Theurer; Judith Hönes; Dagmar Führer; Hanns Hatt

doi:10.3389/fphys.2021.676907

Functional Characterization of Olfactory Receptors in the Thyroid Gland

Front Physiol. 2021 Jul 27:12:676907. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2021.676907. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Daniel Weidinger¹, Nikolina Jovancevic¹, Denise Zwanziger², Sarah Theurer³, Judith Hönes², Dagmar Führer², Hanns Hatt¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cell Physiology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
² Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
³ Institute of Pathology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.

Abstract

Olfactory receptors (ORs) are almost ubiquitously expressed in the human body. However, information about their functions in these tissues is lacking. To date, no functional characterization of expressed ORs in the human thyroid has been performed. In this study, we detected and compared the expression of OR2H2 and OR2W3 in healthy and malignant cell lines and their corresponding tissues, respectively. We demonstrated that stimulation of ORs by their specific ligand resulted in a transient increase in intracellular calcium and cAMP concentrations. In the case of OR2H2, the downstream signaling cascade analysis revealed that adenylate cyclase (AC) and phosphoinositide phospholipase C (PLC) were involved. Furthermore, OR2H2 and OR2W3 activation affected migration, proliferation, and invasion. These are the first insights that ORs influence physiology-relevant processes in the healthy and malignant thyroid.

Keywords: CRISPR/Cas9; G protein-coupled receptor; calcium imaging; olfactory receptor; thyroid cancer.