Clinical implications of SLC26A7 in thyroid carcinoma: An observational study from TCGA and GEO

Thyroid carcinoma (THCA) is a common malignant endocrine tumor. Previously, we found that the expression of solute carrier family 26 member 7 (SLC26A7) in the thyroid gland is higher than that in other tissues. This study focused on the clinical importance of SLC26A7 in the diagnosis and prognosis of THCAs. SLC26A7 expression in THCA was analyzed using datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus databases. The diagnostic accuracy of SLC26A7 was assessed using a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. The association between gene expression levels and patient survival was explored using Kaplan-Meier plotter. The results revealed that the expression SLC26A7 was significantly downregulated in THCA samples. Quantitative analysis demonstrated that SLC26A7 levels had satisfactory predictive performance and the ability to discriminate THCAs from healthy samples. Prognostic analysis demonstrated that low levels of SLC26A7 were markedly associated with poor survival in patients with THCA. These results imply that SLC26A7 may serve as a novel biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of THCA.