The ability of differentiated thyroid cancer and adjacent thyroid cells to concentrate iodine is dependent on their expression of a functional NA(+)/I(-) symporter (NIS). Thyroid cancer is insensitive to (131)I treatment if the thyroid cells lack the ability to concentrate iodide. Thus, in this study, we aimed to determine whether the NIS protein was differentially expressed in thyroid cancer and various surrounding tissues. We recruited 114 cases of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and divided them into two groups: 60 patients of 9 males and 51 females with a mean age of 49.55 years who had PTC with surrounding nodular goiter tissue (simplified as G(NG)), and 54 patients of 8 males and 46 females with a mean age of 45.78 years who had PTC with surrounding normal tissue (G(normal)) after total or near total thyroidectomy. Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue sections were prepared for immunohistochemical staining of the NIS protein and semi-quantitative analysis. The NIS protein was expressed in the basolateral membrane of the normal epithelium, while PTC and nodular goiter cells expressed NIS in the cytoplasm and basolateral membrane. The expression levels of the NIS protein were higher in the adjacent normal tissues compared with those of the surrounding nodular goiter tissues (P=0.002) and expression levels of the NIS protein were higher in PTC tissues compared with the surrounding nodular goiter tissues (P=0.008). The data from this study indicate that cancer-surrounding tissues may play a significant role in mediating the sensitivity of PTC patients to radioactive iodine treatment.