Jee Youn Hee, Sadowski Samira M, Celi Francesco S, Xi Liqiang, Raffeld Mark, Sacks David B, Remaley Alan T, Wellstein Anton, Kebebew Electron, Baron Jeffrey
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
Endocrine Oncology Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2016 Feb 25;11(2):e0149383. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0149383. eCollection 2016.
Thyroid nodules are common, and approximately 5% of these nodules are malignant. Pleiotrophin (PTN) is a heparin-binding growth factor which is overexpressed in many cancers. The expression of PTN in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is unknown.
74 subjects (age 47 ± 12 y, 15 males) who had thyroidectomy with a histological diagnosis: 79 benign nodules and 23 PTCs (10 classic, 6 tall cell, 6 follicular variant and 1 undetermined). Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) samples were obtained ex vivo from surgically excised tissue and assayed for PTN and thyroglobulin (Tg). Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed on tissue sections. In FNA samples, PTN concentration normalized to Tg was significantly higher in PTC than in benign nodules (16 ± 6 vs 0.3 ± 0.1 ng/mg, p < 0.001). In follicular variant of PTC (n = 6), the PTN/Tg ratio was also higher than in benign nodules (1.3 ± 0.6 vs 0.3 ± 0.1 ng/mg, P < 0.001, respectively). IHC showed cytoplasmic localization of PTN in PTC cells.
In ex vivo FNA samples, the PTN to thyroglobulin ratio was higher in PTCs, including follicular variant PTC, than in benign thyroid nodules. The findings raise the possibility that measurement of the PTN to Tg ratio may provide useful diagnostic and/or prognostic information in the evaluation of thyroid nodules.
甲状腺结节很常见，其中约5%为恶性。多效生长因子（PTN）是一种肝素结合生长因子，在许多癌症中过度表达。PTN在甲状腺乳头状癌（PTC）中的表达尚不清楚。
74例接受甲状腺切除术的受试者（年龄47±12岁，男性15例），组织学诊断为：79个良性结节和23个PTC（10个经典型、6个高细胞型、6个滤泡变体型和1个未定型）。细针穿刺（FNA）样本取自手术切除的组织并进行体外检测，以测定PTN和甲状腺球蛋白（Tg）。对组织切片进行免疫组织化学（IHC）检测。在FNA样本中，PTC中PTN浓度相对于Tg的标准化值显著高于良性结节（16±6 vs 0.3±0.1 ng/mg，p<0.001）。在PTC的滤泡变体型（n=6）中，PTN/Tg比值也高于良性结节（分别为1.3±0.6 vs 0.3±0.1 ng/mg，P<0.001）。IHC显示PTN在PTC细胞中呈细胞质定位。
在体外FNA样本中，包括滤泡变体型PTC在内的PTC中PTN与甲状腺球蛋白的比值高于良性甲状腺结节。这些发现增加了一种可能性，即测量PTN与Tg的比值可能为甲状腺结节的评估提供有用的诊断和/或预后信息。
