Thyroid regeneration: how stem cells play a role?
Front. Endocrinol., 14 April 2014 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2014.00055

Conclusion. We have begun understanding the nature of adult thyroid stem/progenitor cells and possible mechanisms of their involvement in thyroid regeneration when thyroid is damaged and requires repair. At least two models for thyroid repair are proposed involving different types of stem/progenitor cells; one for mature cells reprogramed back to immature endoderm lineage-committed progenitor cells, and the other involving cells that appear to be adult-resident stem/progenitor cells. Processes required for tissue repair may have many similarities to cancer development and metastasis, or may provide insight into the development of various other thyroid diseases. Understanding normal adult thyroid stem/progenitor cells and their involvement in thyroid repair should help better understand these diseases, hopefully leading to better diagnosis and/or treatment.

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