TCR-Seq Identifies Distinct Repertoires of Distant-Metastatic and Nondistant-Metastatic Thyroid Tumors

Context Malignant thyroid tumor with distant metastasis is associated with poor outcome. Early detection of distant metastasis is of great clinical importance. Objective Thyroid tumor infiltrated with T cells can serve as a biomarker for monitoring metastasis. Design A retrospective analysis was performed of patient clinical samples collected between 2012 to 2018, using T-cell receptor sequencing (TCR-seq) for clinical exploration. Setting This study took place at Zhejiang Cancer Hospital. Patients Sixty-eight patients with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) (distinct metastatic status) and 21 patients with benign nodules were enrolled. All patients had not received any treatment before surgery. Main Outcome Measure The characteristics of TCRβ complementary-determining region 3 (CDR3) for each patient were determined by high-throughput sequencing. Results The TCRβ diversity of malignant tumors is significantly higher than benign nodules both in blood and tumor samples (Shannon index, blood, P Conclusion The availability and reliability of TCR-seq render it prospective to translate these intrinsic attributes into clinical practice for monitoring distant metastasis in PTC patients.