EXPRESSION OF SREBP1 AND ACCA IN PAPILLARY THYROID CARCINOMA AND ITS CORRELATION WITH CLINICOPATHOLOGIC FEATURES

Shaoshi Yang#, Hong Wang, Ning Sun, Ciman Chai, Yu Sun, Yang Zhou

Department of Thyroid and Breast Surgery, The Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, PR China

Objective: To study the expression of SREBP1 and ACCA in papillary thyroid carcinoma and its correlation with clinicopathological features. 

Methods: Ninety-seven cases of PTC tissues and 30 cases of normal paracancerous tissues that were surgically removed in our hospital from May 2012 to June 2013 were selected randomly. The expression of SREBP1 and ACCA in PTC and normal adjacent tissues were tested by immunohistochemistry, while its correlation with clinicopathological features were analysed at the same time. 

Results: The positive expression rate of SREBP1 in PTC tissues was 95.88% (93/97), and in adjacent tissues, the positive expression rate was 43.33% (13/30). The difference in positive expression rate between the two groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). The positive expression rate of ACCA in PTC tissues was 85.57% (83/97) and 33.33% (10/30) in adjacent tissues. As such, the positive expression rate of ACCA was statistically significant (P<0.05). The expression levels of SREBP1 and ACCA in PTC patients were correlated with tumour diameter, lymph node metastasis, clinical staging and extra-glandular invasion (P<0.05); however, they were not related to age and gender (P>0.05). The 5-year survival rate of patients with SREBP1 positive expression was 48.78% (40/82), which was significantly lower than that of SREBP1 negative expression patients, totalling 73.33% (11/15). Therefore, the difference in the 5-year survival rate of the two groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). The 5-year survival rate of patients with ACCA-positive expression was 47.37% (36/76), which was significantly lower than that of patients with negative ACCA expression, at 71.43% (15/21). Thus, the 5-year survival rate of the two groups was statistically significant (P<0.05). According to the analysis of COX proportional hazards regression model, lymph node metastasis, clinical staging, extra-glandular invasion, SREBP1 expression and ACCA expression can be used as independent risk factors for the prognosis of PTC patients. 

Conclusion: Both SREBP1 and ACCA are positively expressed in PTC tissues, while expression levels are related to the maximum tumour diameter, lymph node metastasis, clinical staging and extra-glandular invasion of PTC patients. The SREBP1 expression and ACCA expression can also be used as independent risk factors for the prognosis of PTC patients, which provides new ideas for the prevention and treatment of PTC.