Search

Programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD‐L1), inducing T cell exhaustion to facilitate immune escape of tumor cells, is upregulated by interleukin 6 (IL‐6) in T cell lymphoma and ovarian cancer. The purpose of this study is to investigate the expression of IL‐6 and PD‐L1 in thyroid cancer, and whether IL‐6 regulates PD‐L1 expression. As a result, IL‐6 and PD‐L1 were highly expressed in thyroid cancer tissues. Multivariate logistic analysis showed that tumor size, distant metastasis, and risk stratification were significantly associated with IL‐6 expression (P, IL‐6 and PD‐L1 are highly expressed in thyroid cancer and correlate with disease aggressiveness. IL‐6 activates the MAPK and JAK‐STAT3 signaling pathways in thyroid cancer. In addition, IL‐6 promotes PD‐L1 transcription through the MAPK and JAK‐STAT3 signaling pathways, which function via transcription factors c‐Jun and stat3.

SummaryBackground Although the incidence rate for thyroid cancer seems to have begun stabilizing in recent years, an increased rate of advanced stage of this disease has been reported. Additionally, distant metastasis is one of the most important prognostic factors of patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Unfortunately, the underlying mechanisms of distant metastasis as well as cell status like metabolism changes in distant metastatic tumors have not been clearly elucidated. Objective To identify serum metabolic signature of distant metastatic PTC. Design, patients and measurementsIn this study, gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS) was used to analyze the serum from 77 patients diagnosed with PTC (37 in distant metastasis group and 40 in ablation group). Principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least-squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA)scores plots were used to analyze the data. Results PCA and OPLS-DA analyses demonstrated an evident trend of separation between 40 serum samples from the ablation group and 37 samples from distant metastasis group. A total of 31 metabolites were identified which are related to amino acid, lipid, glucose, vitamin metabolism and diet/gut microbiota interaction. Pathway analysis showed ‘alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism’ and ‘inositol phosphate metabolism’ were the most relevant pathways. Conclusion Serum metabolomics profiling could significantly discriminate papillary thyroid cancer patients according to distant metastasis. Potential metabolic aberration in distant metastatic PTC could be involved in different biologic behaviors of tumor cells including proliferation, invasion/migration, and immune escape. Diet/gut microbiota produced metabolites could play an important role in these effects. This work may provide new clues to find the underlying mechanisms regarding to the distant metastasis of PTC as well as potential adjuvant therapy targets. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

SummaryObjective Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy, and its incidence has been increasing over the last 30 years. Several studies have suggested that miRNAs may play a significant role in the differential diagnosis of indeterminate thyroid nodules. To systematically evaluate the utility of miRNAs in discriminating malignant thyroid nodules from benign ones on fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) samples, a systematic review and meta-analysis of the published literatures were carried out. Patients and Design Three hundred and sixty-one samples, obtained from 341 patients, were included in the research, and summary sensitivities (SEN), specificities (SPE), positive likelihood ratios, negative likelihood ratios and diagnostic odds ratio were calculated. Then, summary receiver operating characteristic curves (SROCs) and areas under the SROC curves (AUCs) were calculated to further estimate the overall diagnostic value of miRNAs in thyroid cancer. Results The overall pooled SEN, SPE and AUC are 0·75, 0·81 and 0·89, respectively. For multiple miRNAs assays, the pooled SEN, SPE and AUC are 0·87, 0·75 and 0·68, respectively. For single miRNA assays, the corresponding results are 0·71, 0·84 and 0·87, respectively. The corresponding statistical results for differentiating indeterminate FNAB samples are 0·92, 0·68 and 0·86, respectively. Conclusion Our current meta-analysis suggests that miRNAs may serve as a novel diagnostic tool in distinguishing malignant thyroid nodules from benign ones on FNAB specimens. In addition, subgroup analysis suggests that a panel of miRNAs may have a higher sensitivity but a relatively lower specificity than that of single miRNA in distinguishing thyroid nodules.

Background Parapharyngeal metastasis is a rare event in differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC). The 131I-single photon emission CT (SPECT)/CT allows better localization and definition for metastases in DTC. The aim of this study was to assess the value of 131I-SPECT/CT for the diagnosis of parapharyngeal metastasis in patients with DTC. Methods Consecutive patients with DTC (n = 561) treated with 131I for the ablation of remnant or treatment of metastases were enrolled. A 131I-SPECT/CT was performed when there were abnormal findings indicative of parapharyngeal metastasis on 131I-whole-body scan (WBS). Results A total of 15 lesions were found to be parapharyngeal metastasis in 14 of 561 patients with DTC after the use of 131I-SPECT/CT. The incidence rate of parapharyngeal metastasis was about 2.5% in DTC. Of the 15 lesions, only 5 lesions were CT-positive. The remaining 10 lesions were either ignored or indeterminate by the CT alone. Conclusion The 131I-SPECT/CT can identify parapharyngeal metastasis at an early stage. Parapharyngeal metastasis in DTC is relatively frequent after the use of 131I-SPECT/CT. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck, 2011