Correlation of thyroid stimulating hormone receptor mRNA expression levels in peripheral blood with undesirable clinicopathological features in papillary thyroid carcinoma patients

// Riming Liu 1, * , Shaolong Hao 2, * , Hua Zhang 3 , Jihong Ma 2 , Xincheng Liu 2 , Jie Xu 2 , Xin Liu 4 , Jinyao Ning 2 , Yan Sun 3 , Lixin Jiang 2 , Guojun Li 5, 6 , Xicheng Song 3 and Haitao Zheng 2 1 Department of Laboratory of Molecular Biology, The Affiliated Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital of Qingdao University, Yantai, Shandong Province, China 2 Department of Thyroid Surgery, The Affiliated Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital of Qingdao University, Yantai, Shandong Province, China 3 Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, The Affiliated Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital of Qingdao University, Yantai, Shandong Province, China 4 Department of Central Laboratory, The Affiliated Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital of Qingdao University, Yantai, Shandong Province, China 5 Department of Head and Neck Surgery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA 6 Department of Epidemiology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA * These authors contributed equally to this work and are considered co-first authors Correspondence to: Xicheng Song, email: songxicheng@126.com Haitao Zheng, email: zhenghaitao1972@126.com Keywords: papillary thyroid carcinoma, peripheral blood, TSHR mRNA, noninvasive detection Received: November 30, 2016 Accepted: May 14, 2017 Published: May 26, 2017 ABSTRACT To determine the extent to which thyroid stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) mRNA in peripheral blood (PB) has diagnostic value for papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). We obtained pre- and postoperative PB samples from 104 thyroid disease patients and collected 11 healthy volunteers’ PB samples twice apiece at different times. We used reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to quantify TSHR mRNA expression levels in the samples. T-test and chi-square test were used to compare quantitative data and rates. The mean preoperative PB TSHR mRNA expression level of the PTC patients was significantly higher than that of the healthy volunteers. However, on the postoperative day 1, PB TSHR mRNA level of PTC patients significantly decreased but not for healthy controls. Preoperative PB TSHR mRNA expression levels were significantly associated with patient age, capsular invasion status, lymph node metastasis status, and BRAF V600E mutation status ( P < 0.05) but not gender, tumor size, number of cancer foci, or Hashimoto thyroiditis status. Preoperative assessment of the PB TSHR mRNA expression level combined with ultrasonography of the thyroid had better accuracy in the diagnosis of PTC than either method alone did. Moreover, TSHR mRNA expression significantly affected recurrence of PTC patients. Our findings suggest that PB TSHR mRNA expression level is a promising novel biomarker for the early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of PTC. It may serve as a noninvasive means of PTC detection and a prognostic biomarker of residual tumor and help guide further treatment.