Significance of the Extracapsular Spread of Metastatic Lymph Nodes in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

OBJECTIVES: The extracapsular spread (ECS) of metastatic lymph nodes is associated with aggressive tumor behavior, and is regarded as a major risk factor for local recurrence in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. However, the significance of ECS of metastatic lymph nodes has not been well established in well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma. The purpose of this study was to examine this question. METHODS: A retrospective review was performed of 335 patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma who underwent total thyroidectomy with lymph node dissection from April 2001 to December 2009. We analyzed various clinical characteristics, pathologic factors, and the size, number, and ECS of foci in metastatic lymph nodes. RESULTS: On pathologic review, 201 of the patients (56.6%) had lymph node metastasis. This was significantly related to age and tumor size. ECS was noted in 64 of these 201 patients (31.8%), and was significantly related to male gender, tumor size, presence of extrathyroidal extension, metastatic lymph node size, and focus size. Recurrence occurred in 13 patients (3.9%), and the presence of ECS was significantly related to recurrence. CONCLUSION: ECS of metastatic lymph nodes is an important prognostic factor for loco-regional recurrence in papillary thyroid carcinoma.

High MicroRNA-370 Expression Correlates with Tumor Progression and Poor Prognosis in Breast Cancer / 한국유방암학회지

PURPOSE: Deregulation of microRNA-370 (miR-370) has been reported in various cancers, in which it can act as either an oncogene or a tumor suppressor gene. However, the clinicopathologic significance of miR-370 expression in breast cancer has not been studied. METHODS: The expression of miR-370 was determined with quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in 60 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded primary breast cancer tissues. Additionally, the protein expression levels of previously known targets of miR-370, such as FOXM1, FOXO1, and FOXO3a, were detected using immunohistochemistry. Finally, we analyzed its correlation with target protein expression, clinicopathologic features, and clinical outcome. RESULTS: High levels of miR-370 expression correlated with lymph node metastasis (p=0.009), advanced stage (p=0.002), and frequent perineural invasion (p=0.042). Moreover, patients with high miR-370 expression had poor disease-free survival compared with the low-expression group. However, no correlation was observed between miR-370 and its target protein expression. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that upregulation of miR-370 in breast cancer is correlated with breast cancer progression and that it might be a potential biomarker for predicting clinical outcomes.