Thyroglobulin antibody is associated with elevated risk of papillary thyroid cancer among female patients / 中华内分泌代谢杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To determine the correlation between papillary thyroid cancer( PTC) malignancy with thyroid antibody expression level. Methods In this retrospective study, 4046 goiter patients with complete clinical data who have undergone thyroidectomy were separated into the benign nodule ( n=1357) and PTC groups ( n=2689), and their preoperative thyroglobulin antibody ( TgAb) and thyroid peroxidase antibody ( TPOAb) were assessed through antibody analysis. HT was determined based on the postoperative histopathology. The collected data were then evaluated for the correlation with PTC malignancy through statistical tests. Results In general, patients in the PTC group showed a significantly higher TgAb positivity ( 10. 9％) than those in the benign group ( 5. 6％, P<0.01) . Among female patients, a higher TgAb positivity was observed for those in the PTC group than those in the benign group (14.0％ vs 7.0％, P<0.01), while no significant difference between groups was observed in male patients. The high odds ratio of 2.18 supports the significant correlation between TgAb-positive status and higher risk of developing PTC in women (P<0.05). However, the risk of developing PTC was not correlated with higher TgAb titre. TgAb was not significantly correlated with the mass size, multifocality, lymph node metastasis or the TNM classification of malignant tumor stage Ⅲ/Ⅳ. Conclusion The increasing risk of PTC is related to TgAb among female patients, but it will not increase as TgAb titer rises. It is not associated with PTC aggressiveness.