leptin and Adenocarcinoma--Follicular

To investigate the potential prognostic significance of leptin and its receptor (Ob-R) in thyroid carcinoma.. The study cohort consisted of 173 patients including 93 cases with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), 41 cases with follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC), 25 cases with medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) and 14 cases with anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC). We investigated the correlation between clinicopathological features and leptin or Ob-R. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyse the survival rate.. There was a strong correlation of leptin expression with Ob-R expression in PTC, FTC and ATC. For PTC, leptin expression was strongly correlated with older age, larger tumour size, nodal metastasis and advanced stage. Ob-R was significantly correlated with larger tumour size, nodal metastasis and advanced stage. The 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate in patients with positive leptin or its receptor expression was lower than that in patients without expression (with statistical difference). For FTC, patients with positive leptin or Ob-R expression developed no recurrence or metastasis during the follow-up. For MTC, Ob-R was significantly correlated with nodal metastasis and advanced stage (P < 0·05). For ATC, patients with positive Ob-R expression had longer median DFS than those with negative expression (436 ± 185 vs 57 ± 71 days), and the difference in the survival rate was statistically significant (P < 0·05).. There was a strong correlation of leptin expression with Ob-R expression in PTC, FTC and ATC. Leptin and Ob-R had negative prognostic significance in PTC, while Ob-R may play a protective role in ATC.

Topics: Adenocarcinoma, Follicular; Carcinoma; Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine; Carcinoma, Papillary; Cohort Studies; Disease-Free Survival; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Leptin; Neoplasm Metastasis; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; Prognosis; Receptors, Leptin; Recurrence; Survival Rate; Thyroid Cancer, Papillary; Thyroid Carcinoma, Anaplastic; Thyroid Neoplasms; Tissue Array Analysis

Excess body weight is associated with a moderately increased risk of thyroid cancer. Adipocyte-derived hormone, leptin, has been shown to enhance cell growth and migration in many cancer types. Limited evidence suggests that leptin has direct actions on the thyroid gland, but there are no data available on the effect of leptin on thyroid cancer cells. We evaluated the action of leptin on gene expression, cell growth, cell cycle, and cell migration in anaplastic (ARO), follicular (WRO) and papillary (CGTH-W3) thyroid carcinoma cell lines. Expression of long-form leptin receptors was observed in all thyroid cancer cell lines. Leptin stimulation did not alter the expression levels of leptin, leptin receptor and sodium-iodide symporter. Cell growth and cell cycle were not changed after leptin treatment. However, leptin was able to promote cell migration of papillary thyroid cancer cells, but inhibited migration of anaplastic and follicular cancer cells. In summary, our study suggests that leptin modulates cell migration of thyroid cancer cells in a cell type-specific manner.

Topics: Adenocarcinoma, Follicular; Apoptosis; Blotting, Western; Carcinoma; Carcinoma, Papillary; Cell Cycle; Cell Movement; Cell Proliferation; Humans; Leptin; Receptors, Leptin; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA, Messenger; Thyroid Neoplasms