Sparavelli Rebecca, Giannini Riccardo, Signorini Francesca, Materazzi Gabriele, Basolo Alessio, Santini Ferruccio, Ugolini Clara
Department of Surgical, Medical, Molecular Pathology and Critical Area, University of Pisa, 56100 Pisa, Italy.
Endocrine Surgery Unit, Department of Surgical, Medical and Molecular Pathology and Critical Area, Pisa University Hospital, 56126 Pisa, Italy.
Int J Mol Sci. 2025 Aug 26;26(17):8290. doi: 10.3390/ijms26178290.
Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is linked to obesity, but the biological mechanisms that may explain this connection have been only partially described. Potential factors that combine overweight/obesity with this cancer should be searched for in the immune pathways and chronic inflammation onset. In this study, we evaluated the role of the immune system in patients affected by PTC and stratified them according to Body Mass Index (BMI). An analysis of the expression profiles of >700 immune-related genes was performed in 36 PTCs, subdivided into four categories: underweight (A), normal weight (B), overweight (C), and subjects living with obesity (D). B was considered a reference category. In our study, the immune microenvironment of PTCs did not seem strongly influenced by BMI. However, based on the interaction from in silico protein-protein analysis, we found that the dysregulation profiles of groups A or D were similar as concerns pathways involved in T-cell differentiation, macrophage activation, regulation of the cell cycle, and senescence processes. Furthermore, we found significant downregulation of in the A and D categories, with upregulation of in the D category. Although further studies are necessary, these genes may provide an opportunity to better understand immunometabolism in thyroid cancer.
甲状腺乳头状癌（PTC）与肥胖有关，但可能解释这种关联的生物学机制仅得到了部分描述。应在免疫途径和慢性炎症发生过程中寻找将超重/肥胖与这种癌症联系起来的潜在因素。在本研究中，我们评估了免疫系统在PTC患者中的作用，并根据体重指数（BMI）对他们进行了分层。对36例PTC进行了>700个免疫相关基因表达谱的分析，这些病例被分为四类：体重过轻（A）、正常体重（B）、超重（C）和肥胖患者（D）。将B组视为参照类别。在我们的研究中，PTC的免疫微环境似乎并未受到BMI的强烈影响。然而，基于计算机模拟蛋白质-蛋白质分析的相互作用，我们发现A组或D组的失调谱在T细胞分化、巨噬细胞激活、细胞周期调控和衰老过程所涉及的途径方面相似。此外，我们发现A组和D组中 显著下调，而D组中 上调。尽管还需要进一步研究，但这些基因可能为更好地理解甲状腺癌中的免疫代谢提供契机。
