Expression of leptin and its receptor in thyroid carcinoma: distinctive prognostic significance in different subtypes

To investigate the potential prognostic significance of leptin and its receptor (Ob-R) in thyroid carcinoma.

The study cohort consisted of 173 patients including 93 cases with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), 41 cases with follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC), 25 cases with medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) and 14 cases with anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC). We investigated the correlation between clinicopathological features and leptin or Ob-R. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyse the survival rate.

There was a strong correlation of leptin expression with Ob-R expression in PTC, FTC and ATC. For PTC, leptin expression was strongly correlated with older age, larger tumour size, nodal metastasis and advanced stage. Ob-R was significantly correlated with larger tumour size, nodal metastasis and advanced stage. The 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate in patients with positive leptin or its receptor expression was lower than that in patients without expression (with statistical difference). For FTC, patients with positive leptin or Ob-R expression developed no recurrence or metastasis during the follow-up. For MTC, Ob-R was significantly correlated with nodal metastasis and advanced stage (P < 0·05). For ATC, patients with positive Ob-R expression had longer median DFS than those with negative expression (436 ± 185 vs 57 ± 71 days), and the difference in the survival rate was statistically significant (P < 0·05).

There was a strong correlation of leptin expression with Ob-R expression in PTC, FTC and ATC. Leptin and Ob-R had negative prognostic significance in PTC, while Ob-R may play a protective role in ATC.