BRAFV600E/telomerase reverse transcriptase protein expression in lung metastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma and clinical significance

Abstract

Objective To investigate the protein expression of BRAFV600E/telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) in patients with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and its correlation with lung metastasis. Methods The tumor tissues of 716 patients with PTC were collected. The expression of BRAFV600E and TERT was detected by immunohistochemistry, and their clinical pathological features were analyzed. Results In tumor tissues of these PTC patients, 62.3% (446/716) expressed BRAFV600E protein, 30.9% (221/716) expressed TERT protein, and 18% (129/716) co-expressed BRAFV600E and TERT proteins. Multivariate analysis revealed that special subtype of papillary carcinoma, maximal diameter of tumor, lateral cervical lymph node metastasis, and co-expression of BRAFV600E/TERT proteins were independent risk factors of PTC lung metastasis. Tumor maximum diameter, lateral cervical lymph node metastasis and co-expression of BRAFV600E/TERT proteins had a high diagnostic accuracy [area under curve (AUC)>0.7] in predicting lung metastasis in PTC patients. Conclusion The specific subtype of papillary carcinoma, tumor maximum diameter, lateral cervical lymph node metastasis and co-expression of BRAFV600E/TERT proteins were independent risk factors for PTC pulmonary metastasis. Key words: Papillary thyroid carcinoma; Lung metastasis; BRAFV600E; Telomerase reverse transcriptase