Cappagli Virginia, Potes Catarina Soares, Ferreira Luciana Bueno, Tavares Catarina, Eloy Catarina, Elisei Rossella, Sobrinho-Simões Manuel, Wookey Peter J, Soares Paula
Cancer Signaling and Metabolism Group, Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of the University of Porto (IPATIMUP), Porto, Portugal.
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Endocrine Unit, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
PeerJ. 2017 Sep 13;5:e3778. doi: 10.7717/peerj.3778. eCollection 2017.
Calcitonin expression is a well-established marker for medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC); yet the role of calcitonin receptor (CTR), its seven-transmembrane G-protein coupled receptor, remains to be established in C-cells derived thyroid tumors. The aim of this work was to investigate CTR expression in MTC and to correlate such expression with clinicopathological features in order to evaluate its possible role as a prognostic indicator of disease aggressiveness and outcome.
Calcitonin receptor expression was analyzed in a series of 75 MTCs by immunohistochemistry, and by qPCR mRNA quantification in specimens from four patients. Statistical tests were used to evaluate the correlation between CTR expression and the clinicopathological and molecular characteristics of patients and tumors.
Calcitonin receptor expression was detected in 62 out of 75 samples (82.7%), whereas 13 of the 75 samples (17.3%) were completely negative. CTR expression was significantly associated with expression of cytoplasmatic phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10 and osteopontin, as well as with wild type genes and absence of tumor stroma, suggesting that CTR expression do not associate with clinicopathological signs of worse prognosis.
Calcitonin receptor expression appears to be associated in MTC with more differentiated status of the neoplastic cells.
降钙素表达是甲状腺髓样癌（MTC）公认的标志物；然而，降钙素受体（CTR）作为其七跨膜G蛋白偶联受体，在源自C细胞的甲状腺肿瘤中的作用仍有待确定。本研究旨在调查CTR在MTC中的表达，并将其表达与临床病理特征相关联，以评估其作为疾病侵袭性和预后的预后指标的可能作用。
通过免疫组织化学分析了75例MTC患者的降钙素受体表达，并对4例患者的标本进行了qPCR mRNA定量分析。使用统计检验评估CTR表达与患者及肿瘤的临床病理和分子特征之间的相关性。
75个样本中有62个（82.7%）检测到降钙素受体表达，而75个样本中有13个（17.3%）完全阴性。CTR表达与10号染色体缺失的细胞质磷酸酶和张力蛋白同源物以及骨桥蛋白的表达显著相关，也与野生型基因和无肿瘤基质相关，这表明CTR表达与预后较差的临床病理特征无关。
降钙素受体表达似乎在MTC中与肿瘤细胞的分化程度更高有关。
