Efficacy of TSHR mRNA as a tumor marker in the follow-up of differentiated thyroid cancer

6^th International Conference on Biomarkers & Clinical Research

August 31-September 02, 2015 Toronto, Canada

Surasawadee Ausavarat, Jiraporn Sriprapaporn, Aunchalee Laipiriyakun, Busara Satayaban, Boontham Amornkitticharoen, Rujaporn Chanachai and Chaveewan Pattanachak

Mahidol University, Thailand

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Mol Biomark Diagn

Abstract :

Objectives: Measurement of serum thyroglobulin (sTg) by immunoassay is used as a tumor marker for differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC); however, the possible interference of endogenous anti-thyroglobulin anti-bodies (TgAb) and low sensitivity during thyroid hormone suppression may limit its clinical usefulness. Therefore, many researchers have evaluated the efficacy of thyroid-transcripts by molecular assay instead. Here we investigated the efficacy of thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) mRNA during thyroid hormone suppression especially in TgAb-positive patients. Methods: We studied 160 patients with differentiated thyroid cancer and 27 normal subjects without history of thyroid disease. All patients had undergone near-total thyroidectomy and radioactive iodine ablation. Of the 160 patients, 49 (30.6%) were classified as in-remission, 111 patients (69.4%) were disease-persistence, of which, 27 patients (24.3%) were TgAb-positive. Quantification of TSHR mRNA was performed using real-time PCR. Results: Median TSHR mRNA level of in-remission group was significantly different from disease-persistence in TgAb-positive patients, particularly in distant metastasis patients. Analysis of TSHR mRNA at 2.00 pgEq/�¼g total RNA enabled us to discriminate between remission and disease-persistenceat sensitivity of 88.9% and specificity of 42.9%. However, there is no correlation between level of TSHR mRNA and sTg or TSHR mRNA and TSH in all groups. Conclusion: We demonstrated that TSHR mRNA has greater sensitivity in prediction of disease-persistence in TgAb-positive patients than sTg during thyroid hormone suppression. Further study should emphasize the cost-effectiveness of routine usage of the assay in clinical practice.

Biography :

Surasawadee Ausavarat has completed her PhD in Human Molecular Genetics from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. Her research interests are human disease gene identification and characterization. Currently, she is a Lecturer of Nuclear Chemistry Laboratory, Division of Nuclear Medicine and her current research is directed toward determining a molecular marker for thyroid cancer. She has published more than 7 papers in international peer journals.

Email: ausavarat.s@gmail.com