Expression of sex hormones and their receptors in female patients with different types of thyroid nodules

Abstract

Objective To investigate the levels of estrogen, progesterone, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) , and luteinizing hormone (LH) in serum and the expression of ER, PR, FSH receptor (FSHR) , and LH receptor (LHR) in thyroid tissues of patients with different types of thyroid nodules. Methods Serum levels of estrogen, progesterone, FSH, and LH were measured by chemiluminescence and expression of ER, PR, FSHR, and LHR in thyroid tissue was detected by immunohistochemistry in female patients with thyroid adenoma (n=97) , nodular goiter (n=103) , thyroid papillary cancer (n=208) , poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma (n=17) , or undifferentiated thyroid carcinoma (n=10) and in normal controls (n=60) from Dec. 2009 to Dec. 2014 in Department of Thyroid Surgery of the First Hospital of Jilin University. Results The positive rates of serum estrogen level and ER expression were significantly greater in patients with various types of thyroid nodules than in normal controls. The positive rates of ER expression were significantly lower in various types of thyroid nodules than in normal thyroid tissues, especially in poorly differentiated carcinoma and undifferentiated carcinoma. The negative rates of serum progesterone level and positive rates of PR expression in thyroid tissue were significantly greater in patients with thyroid adenoma, nodular goiter, or thyroid papillary cancer than in normal controls. The positive rates of serum FSH and LH levels and FSHR and LHR expression were significantly greater in the thyroid adenoma group than in other groups. Conclusions The occurance of thyroid nodules might be related to sex hormone. The combined detection of serum levels of sex hormones and expression of their receptors allows for a differential diagnosis and evaluation of the degree of differentiation among various types of thyroid nodules. Key words: Thyroid nodules; Estrogen; Progesterone; Follicle-stimulating hormone; Luteinizing hormone