Correlation between thyroid autoantibodies and the risk of thyroid papillary carcinoma

To investigate the correlation of thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb) and thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb) with the risk of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).

The clinical data of 322 patients with pathologically confirmed thyroid nodules who underwent surgical treatment in Lishui Hospital of Zhejiang University from January 2018 to December 2019 were enrolled in this study. The enrolled patients were divided into a benign nodule group and a PTC group according their pathological results. Comparison was drawn based around the difference of thyroid autoantibody distribution between groups and its correlation with the risk of PTC.

The positive rate of TgAb in the PTC group was significantly higher than that in the benign nodule group (P<0.05). The incidence of PTC was significantly higher in TgAb positive patients in the presence of negative TPOAb (P<0.05). Further regression analysis revealed positive TgAb to be a risk factor of PTC (OR =3.097, P<0.05), while age ≥55 years old (OR =0.188, P<0.05) and nodule diameter ≥10 mm (OR =0.064, P<0.05) reduced the risk of PTC. Simultaneously, positive TgAb was also a risk factor for PTC in females (OR =3.532, P<0.05), but not in males (P>0.05). The risk of PTC in females was not associated with further increase in the titer of TgAb.

TgAb may be associated with an increased risk of PTC in females, but there is no clear correlation between the risk of PTC and higher antibody titer in these patients.