THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN LYMPH NODE METASTASIS AND MOLECULAR MARKERS IN DIFFERENTIATED THYROID CANCER

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Molecular Pathology
• Cancer Biomarkers

Background:

• Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) lacks consensus on using molecular markers for prognosis and risk assessment.
• Identifying reliable prognostic predictors in DTC remains a clinical challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the expression of NIS, Galectin-3, PTEN, P53, and Ki67 in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) tumor tissue and metastatic lymph nodes.
• To determine the association of these molecular markers with lymph node metastasis and patient prognosis in PTC.

Main Methods:

• Immunohistochemical staining for NIS, Galectin-3, PTEN, P53, and Ki67 was performed on tumor tissues and metastatic lymph nodes from 92 PTC patients.
• Retrospective assessment of clinical-pathological factors including age, gender, tumor size, multifocality, capsular invasion, extrathyroidal extension, and lymphocytic thyroiditis.
• Analysis focused on the correlation between marker expression and lymph node metastasis, tumor recurrence, and other clinicopathological features.

Main Results:

• Tumor capsular invasion and extrathyroidal extension were significantly associated with an increased risk of lymph node metastasis (p=0.03 and p < 0.001, respectively).
• NIS, PTEN, and Galectin-3 expressions in tumor tissue showed no association with lymph node metastasis or tumor recurrence.
• Ki 67 proliferation index correlated with tumor size (p=0.012), and its expression in tumor tissue was concordant with metastatic lymph nodes (p=0.02).

Conclusions:

• The studied molecular markers (NIS, PTEN, Galectin-3, Ki67, P53) were not found to be associated with the risk of lymph node metastasis in PTC.
• Routine analysis of these specific markers is not currently recommended for predicting prognosis in PTC.
• Further research utilizing novel markers is essential for identifying robust prognostic predictors in differentiated thyroid cancer.