Fig. 8.

Relative fold-change expression (log 2) of TSHR over MCT8 to compare MCT8 and TSHR gene expression levels in human thyroid tissues. TSHR and MCT8 genes were correlated to the “best” three housekeeping genes (best keeper index), calculated by the repeated pairwise correlation analysis. 18S (18S ribosomal RNA), PPIA (peptidylprolyl isomerase A, cyclophilin A) and ACTB (actin beta) were used as housekeeping genes. Comparable TSHR and MCT8 expression levels are shown in follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC, second most frequent subtype of differentiated thyroid carcinoma) and papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC, most frequent subtype of differentiated thyroid carcinoma). TSHR expression is significantly lower in human thyroid tissues of Grave’s disease (GD, high TH concentration due to autoimmune activation of the TSHR) as compared to MCT8 expression. Shown is the relative fold-change expression (log2) of TSHR over MCT8, n = 8, t test, ns = not significant, ***p < 0.001