Avaliação Imuno-histoquímica de VEGF-C e COX-2 em Carcinomas Papilíferos de Tireoide.

Abstract

Thyroid câncer is the most common endocrine system malignant neoplasia. Although it is a relatively rare pathology, responsible for approximately 1% of new malignant disease cases, there has been recognized all over the world a tendency to increase its incidence. This study aimed to evaluate the expression of COX-2 and VEGF-C in patients diagnosed with Thyroid Papilary Carcinoma (TPC) in the city of Goiania, Goias State, Brazil, as well as the possible associations between this expression markers and the following factors: lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis, tumor size, age, adjacent tissue invasion and gender. In this regard, 165 thyroid papilary carcinoma cases diagnosed at the Araujo Jorge Hospital Patologic Anatomy Department in Goiania, Goias State, Brazil were analyzed. The molecular analysis was held by immunohistochemistry. Descriptive and comparative statistical analysis using Chi square test were held in this study. The study evaluated 165 patients who had documented histopathologic TPC diagnosis. The immunohistocemical analysis of the expression COX-2 e VEGF-C made possible to classify the expression COX-2 e VEGF-C in two groups, one of them with the expression ≤ 50 % to COX-2 and VEGF-C (90 cases 54,5%; 102 cases 40,6%), and the other one with the expression > 50 % (50 cases 30,3%; 62 cases 37,6%). Significant statistical associations were observed between the size (p=0,0048; p<0,0001) and adjacent tissue invasion (p=0,0006; p<0,0001) with the expression of COX-2 and VEGF-C, and also between lymph node metastasis (p<0,0001) with expression VEGF-C. The collected data showed that the over expression COX-2 and VEGF-C in TPC cases can be important molecular biomarkers in thyroid papilary carcinoma prognosis. Our results corroborate to other studies that demonstrated the usability of these proteins to identify TPC patients, with a higher risk of disease progression because of its association with the presence of regional lymph node metastasis and with adjacent tissue invasion.