Abnormal expression of BRMS1 and Cx43 protein in thyroid cancer occurrence and progression / 中国肿瘤临床

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the protein expression levels of breast cancer metastasis suppressor 1 (BRMS1) and Con-nexin 43 (Cx43) in thyroid cancer and their correlation with clinicopathologic parameters. Methods:Immunohistochemistry Streptavi-din-Peroxidase method was used to detect the BRMS1 and Cx43 protein expression in 195 tissue samples, including 90 cases with thy-roid carcinoma, 45 cases with thyroid adenoma, 30 cases with nodular goiter, and 30 cases with normal thyroid glands. Results:The positive rates of BRMS1 and Cx43 expression was 56.7%(51/90) and 41.1%(37/90) in thyroid carcinoma, respectively, which are sig-nificantly lower than the rates in thyroid adenoma, nodular goiter, and normal thyroid gland tissues (P<0.001). Of the three pathological types of thyroid cancer, the positive expression rate of Cx43 was 61.9%in papillary carcinoma, 27.8%in medullary carcinoma, 27.3%in follicular carcinoma, and 12.5%in undifferentiated carcinoma. Statistical differences in the BRMS1 expression among papillary car-cinoma and the other pathological types were also noted. Unlike the patients without lymph node metastasis, the positive expression of BRMS1 and Cx43 proteins were both significantly low among patients suffering from nodal metastasis. Subgroup analysis shows that the positive expression of BRMS1 and Cx43 protein gradually decreased with TNM staging. In addition, a positive correlation was ob-served between the BRMS1 and Cx43 protein expression (r=0.494, P=0.032). Conclusion:The decreased expression of BRMS1 and Cx43 proteins is significantly correlated with the metastasis of thyroid cancer and malignant grade. The combined detection of the two proteins can be ideal biomarkers for judging the prognosis of thyroid carcinoma.