Investigation of ZIP4, ZO-1, and CLAUDIN-1 expression in thyroid tumours by immunohistochemistry and real-time polymerase chain reaction methods.

Abstract

Thyroid neoplasms are the most common endocrine malignancies. ZIP4 is an intramembranous zinc trans membrane protein. Zinc plays acentral role in the activation of transcription factors, and zinc transporters. This affects tumour migration, invasion, and cell proliferation. ZO-1 and Claudin-1 are important tight junction proteins whose amounts increase and decrease in various cancers. In this study, we aimed to investigate the expression of ZIP4, ZO-1, and Claudin-1 in thyroid tumours and the relationship of this expression with tumour types and prognostic parameters. ZIP4, ZO-1, and Claudin-1 were studied in all cases by immunohistochemical and Real-Time PCR methods. ZIP4 and Claudin-1 tended to be expressed more in cases with tumours, while ZO-1 in cases with and without tumours. Expression of ZIP4 and Claudin-1 by real-time polymerase chain reaction showed asignificant difference between histological subtypes, and this difference was not observed with ZO-1. It was observed that the presence of metastasis increased with the expression of ZIP4 and Claudin-1, and there was no significant change with ZO-1. We think that Claudin-1 and ZIP4 expression can be used as an important marker in terms of showing poor prognosis and susceptibility to metastasis in thyroid tumours, and in developing targeted therapy.