Expression and Significance of Chemokine Receptor 4 and Ki-67 in Thyroid Cancer

Objective To investigate the expression and significance of chemokine receptor 4(CXCR4) and Ki-67 in thyroid cancer with the hope to find new indicators for prognosis evaluation of thyroid cancer.Methods A total of 112 thyroid cancer patients were divided into the anaplastic thyroid carcinoma(ATC) group and the differentiated thyroid carcinoma(DTC) group according to pathological types and DTC included papillary thyroid cancer(PTC),follicular thyroid carcinoma(FTC),and medullary thyroid carcinoma(MTC).SP immunohistochemical technique was used to test the different expression of CXCR4 and Ki-67 in tissues of thyroid cancer.Correlations between CXCR4 and Ki-67 expression and pathological types,state of lymphatic metastasis,age and sex were analyzed.Results CXCR4 was positively or strongly expressed in all thyroid cancer types.The strong positive expression rates of CXCR4 were significantly different between ATC and DTC(P0.01) and between thyroid cancer with and without lymphatic metastasis(P0.01).Ki-67 proliferative index varied among different types of thyroid cancer(P0.05).Ki-67 proliferative indices were significantly different between in thyroid cancer with and without lymphatic metastasis(P0.01).No differences in CXCR4 and Ki-67 expression were noted among different age groups and between genders(P0.05).Linear correlation analysis revealed that expression levels of CXCR4 and Ki-67 in thyroid cancer tissues are positively related(P0.01).Conclusion The expression levels of CXCR4 and Ki-67 in thyroid cancer tissues are closely related to pathological types and state of lymphatic metastasis,but are not related to age and sex.Expression of CXCR4 and Ki-67 might be used as indicators of prognosis in thyroid cancer patients.