Erdogdu Ibrahim Halil, Yumrutas Onder, Ozgur Cevik M, Bozgeyik Ibrahim, Erdogdu Miyase, Inan Hacı Mehmet, Bagis Haydar
Adnan Menderes University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pathology, Aydin, Turkey.
Adiyaman University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Biology, Adiyaman, Turkey.
Gene. 2018 Apr 5;649:8-13. doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2018.01.066. Epub 2018 Jan 31.
Thyroid cancer is the most common type of endocrine malignancy and a leading cause of death among endocrine organ-related cancers. Similar to other types of cancers, early diagnosis of thyroid cancer is important to increase the survival and treatment of this disease. Several immunohistochemical markers are used in the differential diagnosis of thyroid papillary carcinoma. Also, increasing evidence indicates that P-element induced wimpy testis like 2 (PIWIL2) is an RNA-binding protein involved in the induction and progression of numerous types of human malignancies such as lung, breast, colon, prostate and cervix cancers. However, the role of PIWIL2 was poorly investigated in thyroid cancers. Accordingly, aim of the present study was to elucidate the relationship between PIWIL2 and thyroid cancers. The expression level of PIWIL2 was determined by analyzing both protein and mRNA levels in papillary and micropapillary carcinoma tissues by using immunohistochemistry and real-time PCR methods, respectively. Immunohistochemical analysis of HBME-1, galectin-3 and CK-19 was also performed. Similar to other immune markers of HBME-1, galectin-3 and CK-19, protein expression levels of PIWIL2 was significantly up-regulated in both papillary and micropapillary thyroid cancers (p < 0.01). Moreover, consistent with protein expression levels, mRNA expression levels of PIWIL2 was elevated in both papillary and micropapillary thyroid cancer tissues. Yet, mRNA expression changes were statistically insignificant. In conclusion, results of the current study suggest that PIWIL2 can be involved in thyroid cancer tumorigenesis and can be used as a novel predictive biomarker and/or therapeutic target.
甲状腺癌是最常见的内分泌系统恶性肿瘤，也是内分泌器官相关癌症死亡的主要原因。与其他类型的癌症一样，甲状腺癌的早期诊断对于提高该疾病的生存率和治疗效果至关重要。几种免疫组化标志物用于甲状腺乳头状癌的鉴别诊断。此外，越来越多的证据表明，P元件诱导的弱精症样2（PIWIL2）是一种RNA结合蛋白，参与多种人类恶性肿瘤如肺癌、乳腺癌、结肠癌、前列腺癌和宫颈癌的发生和发展。然而，PIWIL2在甲状腺癌中的作用研究较少。因此，本研究的目的是阐明PIWIL2与甲状腺癌之间的关系。通过免疫组化和实时PCR方法分别分析乳头状和微乳头状癌组织中的蛋白质和mRNA水平，以确定PIWIL2的表达水平。还进行了HBME-1、半乳糖凝集素-3和CK-19的免疫组化分析。与HBME-1、半乳糖凝集素-3和CK-19的其他免疫标志物相似，PIWIL2的蛋白表达水平在乳头状和微乳头状甲状腺癌中均显著上调（p＜0.01）。此外，与蛋白表达水平一致，PIWIL2的mRNA表达水平在乳头状和微乳头状甲状腺癌组织中均升高。然而，mRNA表达变化在统计学上无显著意义。总之，本研究结果表明，PIWIL2可能参与甲状腺癌的肿瘤发生，可作为一种新的预测生物标志物和/或治疗靶点。
