Zahra Hashem O, Omran Gamal A, Gewely Ahmed G, Eldehn Ahmed Fathy, Abdo Walied, Elmahallawy Ehab Kotb, Okda Tarek M
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Damanhour University, Damanhour 22511, Egypt.
Department of Oncology Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21111, Egypt.
Diagnostics (Basel). 2021 Nov 10;11(11):2080. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11112080.
Well-differentiated thyroid cancer (WDTC) is a malignant head and neck tumor with a very high incidence. Thyroidectomized WDTC patients have been referred to nuclear medicine for radioactive iodine (RAI) ablation therapy and/or annual follow-up with diagnostic whole-body imaging. Serum thyroglobulin (TG) and thyroglobulin antibodies (TGAb) are biochemical tumor markers used to monitor WDTC. A global rise in the prevalence of WDTC is increasing the number of thyroidectomized patients requiring lifelong monitoring for persistent or recurrent diseases. The present study aimed to identify the most successful prognostic factors in well-defined thyroid carcinoma patients following total thyroidectomy and RAI therapy, followed by an estimation of the cutoff value of TG and TGAb. In this context, a total of 100 subjects were recruited and classified as follows: 60 thyroid carcinoma patients underwent total thyroidectomy and successful RAI therapy, while 40 normal healthy individuals matched for age, sex, and socioeconomic status constituted the control group. Interestingly, the levels of TG did not differ significantly between the relapsed and non-relapsed cases, but the levels of TGAb differed significantly between the relapsed and non-relapsed cases. Collectively, TG and TGAb are considered the most successful prognostic factors in well-defined thyroid carcinoma patients after total thyroidectomy and RAI therapy. The present study also concluded that the TGAb determination was better than that of the TG level, with a cutoff value of 10 ng/mL. These findings provide baseline information for follow-up and lifelong monitoring of thyroidectomized WDTC patients. Further research is warranted to explore more about serum TG and TGAb in thyroid carcinoma patients on a larger scale.
高分化甲状腺癌（WDTC）是一种发病率极高的头颈部恶性肿瘤。接受甲状腺切除的WDTC患者已被转诊至核医学科进行放射性碘（RAI）消融治疗和/或每年进行诊断性全身显像随访。血清甲状腺球蛋白（TG）和甲状腺球蛋白抗体（TGAb）是用于监测WDTC的生化肿瘤标志物。WDTC患病率的全球上升导致需要对持续性或复发性疾病进行终身监测的甲状腺切除患者数量增加。本研究旨在确定全甲状腺切除和RAI治疗后明确诊断的甲状腺癌患者中最成功的预后因素，随后估计TG和TGAb的临界值。在此背景下，共招募了100名受试者并进行如下分类：60例甲状腺癌患者接受了全甲状腺切除和成功的RAI治疗，而40名年龄、性别和社会经济地位相匹配的正常健康个体构成对照组。有趣的是，复发和未复发病例之间的TG水平无显著差异，但复发和未复发病例之间的TGAb水平有显著差异。总体而言，TG和TGAb被认为是全甲状腺切除和RAI治疗后明确诊断的甲状腺癌患者中最成功的预后因素。本研究还得出结论，TGAb测定优于TG水平测定，临界值为10 ng/mL。这些发现为接受甲状腺切除的WDTC患者的随访和终身监测提供了基线信息。有必要进行进一步研究，以更广泛地探索甲状腺癌患者的血清TG和TGAb。
