Liu Xinxin, Liu Yixin
Department of Pathology, Tianjin Nankai Hospital Tianjin, The People's Republic of China.
Department of Pathology, Tianjin Central Hospital of Gynecology Obstetrics Tianjin, The People's Republic of China.
Int J Clin Exp Pathol. 2025 Jun 15;18(6):233-244. doi: 10.62347/TZNW3776. eCollection 2025.
Thyroid cancer is the world's most prevalent endocrine malignancy and a major health issue. With population aging and environmental influence, its incidence is increasing significantly. Highly specific and sensitive biomarkers to differentiate it from other thyroid diseases are crucial in clinical diagnosis. Identifying thyroid cancer types accurately is essential for personalized treatment, better survival, and improved prognosis.
This study was to demonstrate the survival prognosis of Cytokeratin19 (CK19) and Galectin-3 in thyroid cancer through the Kaplan-Meier plotter. Simultaneously, KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) pathway database was used to detect the associated signaling pathways of CK19 and Galectin-3. Furthermore, a retrospective analysis was performed on 55 cases of thyroid tumor, including papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and nodular goiter (NG), using immunohistochemistry (IHC) for these proteins. The ROC curve evaluated the diagnostic ability of CK19 and Galectin-3 expressions.
Lower levels of CK19 and Galectin-3 were associated with a poor overall survival prognosis (OS, P < 0.05). The KEGG pathway database demonstrated that the signaling pathways related to CK19 and Galectin-3 play a vital function in controlling the cell cycle. The research revealed that CK19 and Galectin-3 expressions were greater in PTC compared to NG (P < 0.01). Furthermore, in PTC, the positive expression of Galectin-3 was increased in the subgroup aged 55 years and above (P < 0.01). A positive correlation of PTC was identified between the expressions of CK19 and Galectin-3. Moreover, lymph node metastasis correlated positively with tumor size in PTC (P < 0.01). Both CK19 and Galectin-3 proteins have predictive values in predicting PTC (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, the AUC value for the optimal cut-off of combined CK19 and Galectin-3 is more statistically significant (P < 0.05).
CK19 and Galectin-3 are likely to be involved in the pathogenesis of thyroid neoplasms, manifesting distinct functions across diverse PTC subtypes. Furthermore, they may function as highly specific and sensitive biomarkers for differentiating pathological diagnoses, thus offering substantial value in the precise identification of thyroid-related pathologies.
甲状腺癌是全球最常见的内分泌恶性肿瘤，也是一个重大的健康问题。随着人口老龄化和环境影响，其发病率正在显著上升。在临床诊断中，用于将其与其他甲状腺疾病区分开来的高度特异性和敏感性生物标志物至关重要。准确识别甲状腺癌类型对于个性化治疗、提高生存率和改善预后至关重要。
本研究旨在通过Kaplan-Meier绘图仪证明细胞角蛋白19（CK19）和半乳糖凝集素-3在甲状腺癌中的生存预后。同时，使用京都基因与基因组百科全书（KEGG）通路数据库检测CK19和半乳糖凝集素-3的相关信号通路。此外，对55例甲状腺肿瘤病例进行回顾性分析，包括乳头状甲状腺癌（PTC）和结节性甲状腺肿（NG），对这些蛋白质进行免疫组织化学（IHC）检测。ROC曲线评估了CK19和半乳糖凝集素-3表达的诊断能力。
CK19和半乳糖凝集素-3水平较低与总体生存预后较差相关（OS，P<0.05）。KEGG通路数据库表明，与CK19和半乳糖凝集素-3相关的信号通路在控制细胞周期中起着至关重要的作用。研究发现，与NG相比，PTC中CK19和半乳糖凝集素-3的表达更高（P<0.01）。此外，在PTC中，55岁及以上亚组中半乳糖凝集素-3的阳性表达增加（P<0.01）。在PTC中，CK19和半乳糖凝集素-3的表达之间存在正相关。此外，PTC中淋巴结转移与肿瘤大小呈正相关（P<0.01）。CK19和半乳糖凝集素-3蛋白在预测PTC方面均具有预测价值（P<0.05）。同时，联合CK19和半乳糖凝集素-3的最佳截断值的AUC值在统计学上更显著（P<0.05）。
CK19和半乳糖凝集素-3可能参与甲状腺肿瘤的发病机制，在不同的PTC亚型中表现出不同的功能。此外，它们可能作为区分病理诊断的高度特异性和敏感性生物标志物，从而在甲状腺相关病理的精确识别中提供重要价值。
