Detection of thyroglobulin, TSH receptor and sodium-iodine symporter mRNA for identification of lymph node metastases in patients with papillary thyroid carcer

Background Papillary thyroid carcer (PTC) is the most prevalent endocrine malignancy, with the morbidity increase in recent years. The presence of metastatic lymph nodes stands as a significant predictor for recurrent occurrences of the disease. In this study, we explored the utility of biomarkers in aiding the identification of lymph node metastases in patients with PTC. Methods We gathered 388 formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) lymph node specimens from 266 individuals who had undergone surgical procedures for PTC. These samples were analyzed for the mRNA expression level of thyroglobulin ( TG ), TSH receptor ( TSHR ), and sodium-iodide symporter ( NIS ) using the real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (qPCR) method. The results were compared with pathologic diagnosis. Results Among 134 confirmed lymph node metastasis tissues, it was found that 123 samples expressed TG mRNA, 118 samples expressed TSHR mRNA and only 16 samples expressed NIS mRNA. Among 254 nonmetastatic lymph node tissues, 240 samples did not express TG mRNA, 219 samples did not express TSHR mRNA and 230 samples did not express NIS mRNA. The findings suggest that the measure of TG mRNA for the diagnosis of lymph node metastasis has a 91.79% sensitivity rate and a 94.49% specificity rate. The detection of TSHR mRNA displays an 88.06% sensitivity and an 86.22% specificity for recognizing lymph node metastasis. However, mRNA expression of NIS was not detected in most of lymph node samples. Conclusions The research suggests that identifying TG mRNA expression in lymph nodes could serve as an effective approach to aid in postoperative diagnosing lymph node metastasis in patients with PTC.