Clinicopathologic evaluation of immunohistochemical CD147 and MMP-2 expression in differentiated thyroid carcinoma

CD147 is one of the molecules involved in regulating the expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). The goal of this study was to analyze the expression levels of CD147 and MMP-2 in differentiated thyroid carcinomas (DTCs) tissues, as well as their associations with the clinicopathologic features of DTC patients.

CD147 and MMP-2 expression in 156 patients who underwent operation for DTC (100 with papillary thyroid carcinomas and 56 with follicular thyroid carcinomas) were examined by immunostaining on paraffin-embedded tumor specimens. The Spearman correlation was calculated between the expression levels of CD147 and MMP-2 in DTC tissues. Then, the association of their expression with clinicopathologic characteristics was analyzed.

CD147 and MMP-2 were expressed mainly in cancerous lesions, but also expressed in some normal tissues. A total of 55 and 58 in 156 (35.26 and 37.18%, respectively) cases showed low CD147- and MMP-2-positive expression; 52 and 50 in 156 (33.33 and 32.05%, respectively) cases showed intermediate CD147- and MMP-2-positive expression and 49 and 48 in 156 (31.41 and 30.77%, respectively) cases showed high CD147- and MMP-2-positive expression. The Spearman analysis indicated that the expression level of CD147 was positively correlated with that of MMP-2 significantly (rs = 0.86, P = 0.02). Positive CD147 and MMP-2 immunostaining associated significantly with extrathyroidal invasion (P = 0.02, 0.03), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.01, 0.01) and depth of tumor invasion (P < 0.01, =0.01).

The results have been demonstrated that the expression of CD147 and MMP-2 may be an important feature of DTC. The detection of these two markers may increase the ability of clinicians to investigate the progression of DTC patients.