Expression and clinical values of AP-4 and VEGF-C in papillary carcinoma of thyroid

Abstract

Objective To detect the expression and the clinical values of AP-4 and VEGF-C in papillary carcinoma of thyroid(PTC). Methods The expressions of AP-4 and VEGF-C were detected in 55 PTC tissues, paraneoplastic tissues, and 10 normal thyroid tissues by immunohistochemical technique. The protein expression were compared with clinical parameter of the PTC tissues, for studying the correlation among the expression of AP-4 and VEGF-C and clinical significance. Results The positive expression rate of AP-4 and VEGF-C in PTC tissues were significantly higher than paraneoplastic tissue or normal thyroid tissues(P<0.05). The expressions of AP-4 and VEGF-C in the PTC tissues which presented an intimate relationship with age, memebrane integrality, clinical stage and lymph node metastasis(P<0.05), but all of them did not show any correlation to tumor size or patient gender. The expressions of AP-4 and VEGF-C in the PTC tissues showed diagnositic values for lymph node metastasis, the sensitivy was 91.7%, and the specificity was 84.2%. Conclusions The expression of AP-4 and VEGF-C may play important roles in the cervical lymph node metastasis of PTC. AP-4 and VEGF-C detecting together might be useful prognosis marker of cervical lympy node metastasis. Key words: Papillary Carcinoma of the Thyroid; AP-4; VEGF-C; Immunohistochemistry