Relationship Between CXCL12-CXCR4 Biological Axis And Papillary Thyroid Cancer Lymph Node Metastasis

Objectives:To examine the expressions of CXCR4,CXCL12 mRNA and protein in papillary thyroid cancer and their lymph tissue,demonstrate their association with clinicopathological parameters,demonstrate the relation between CXCR4-CXCL12 biological axis and lymph metastasis in papillary thyroid cancer,elucidate the molecular mechanism of lymph metastasis in papillary thyroid cancer,and find out the new target to restrain the metastasis.Methods:The CXCR4,CXCL12 protein and mRNA which were extracted from 124 specimens of papillary thyroid cancer tissues were determined by immunohistochemistry and semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR).Then analyze their association with clinicopathological parameters.Results:1.The expression of CXCR4 mRNA and proteinThe expression of CXCR4 in the papillary thyroid cancer and their metastasized lymph tissue were significantly higher than that of the control group(P＜0.05),the expression of CXCR4 was not significantly correlated with age,gender and the size of the tumor(p＞0.05),but was significantly directly correlated with the lymph metastasis,distant metastasis and the degree of tumor invasion(P＜0.05).The survival rate of the CXCR4 lower expression group was significantly higher than that of the CXCR4 higher expression group(P＜0.05).2.The expression of CXCL12 mRNA and proteinThe expression of CXCL12 in the lymph tissue of non-metastasis group,the normal and the metastasized lymph tissue of metastasis group were significantly higher than that of the control group(P＜0.05),but there were no significantly difference between each other(P＞0.05).3.The relation between CXCR4,CXCL12 protein and mRNAThe expression of CXCR4,CXCL12 protein were significantly correlated with the expression of CXCR4,CXCL12 mRNA(P＜0.05).Conclusions:The papillary thyroid cancer highly express CXCR4,that is closely associated with their lymph metastasis,distant metastasis,the degree of tumor invasion and prognosis.The high expression of CXCR4 suggest more potentiality in metastasizing and invasion,and is considered to be one of the index of unfavourable prognosis.The lymph nodes highly express CXCL 12,and chemotactise the CXCR4 receptor positive cancer cell metastasize to the lymph nodes.It is suggested that the CXCR4-CXCL12 biological axis maybe has been playing a important role in metastasizing and invasion in papillary thyroid cancer,and it could the new target to restrain the metastasis.The expression of CXCR4,CXCL12 protein and the expression of CXCR4,CXCL12 mRNA in papillary thyroid cancer are corresponding.