Study On The Relationship Between Survivin, Galectin-3and TPO Expression And BRAF^V600E Mutation In Patients With Papillary Thyroid Microcarcinoma

Background Small papillary thyroid carcinoma (papillary thyroidmicrocarcinoma, PTMC) is a subtype of papillary thyroid carcinoma (papillary thyroidcarcinoma, PTC), accounting for about30%of all thyroid papillary carcinoma.According to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification of thyroid cancer, themaximum diameter of PTC≤1.0cm were defined as PTMC. In recent years, Theincidence of PTMC is increasing, and28%of PTMC patients with lymph nodemetastasis and poor prognosis, as reported, PTMC incidence may be related with thegene mutation, in which the BRAF gene got the most attention, it has been found BRAFmutation is related with lymph node metastasis in PTMC; Recent studies show: there washigh expressions of survivin and Gal-3protein in PTC, and they were closely related tothe degree of malignancy; TPO was widely expressed in normal thyroid and benignthyroid lesions, but decreased or absent expressed in PTC and follicular carcinoma.Objective To evaluate the correlations between survivin、 galectin-3、 TPOexpressions with BRAFV600Emutation in papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC).Methods56cases underwent surgery PTMC specimens were collected from theDepartment of Pathology, First Hospital of Jilin University from2012to2013，including22males (39.3%), female34cases (60.7%), and aged33to68years, mean48years.Inclusion criteria: All patients before surgery were not carried out inside and outside theradiation therapy; Specimens were confirmed by conventional pathological diagnosis;The initial resection of PTMC primary tumor were without residual cancer. Exclusioncriteria: Postoperative recurrence specimens; Distant organ metastasis specimens; initialprimary tumors who have residual cancer after surgery. The expressions of survivin、 Gal-3and TPO were measured by immunohistochemical (IHC) method in56cases ofPTMC tissue and adjacent normal tissue; BRAFV600Emutation was detected by PCRamplification and subsequently sequencing. Chi square test was used to analysis therelation between the expression rates of survivin, Gal-3and TPO and the mutation ofBRAF gene.Results The survivin and Gal-3were strongly expressed but TPO was negativelyexpressed. The survivin and Gal-3were negative in adjacent normal tissue but TPO wasexpressed. There were significant differences in the expression rates of survivin, Gal-3and TPO between PTMC tissue and adjacent normal tissue (all P＜0.001). The BRAFmutation rate which was found in32.1%of PTMC tissue and the expression rates ofsurvivin, Gal-3and TPO in PTMC tissue were positively related to lymph nodemetastases (P=0.009, P=0.025, P=0.007, P=0.008), and were negatively related togender and age (all P＞0.05). The expression of survivin、Gal-3、TPO has nocorrelation with the BRAF mutation in PTMC(all P＞0.05).Conclusions The strong expressions of survivin and Gal-3, the mild expression ofTPO and BRAF mutation may be important in the development of PTMC, and thedetection of BRAF gene mutation and the expressions of survivin、Gal-3and TPO couldbe used to the judgment of pathogenetic condition and prognostic outcome.