Erythropoietin and the erythropoietin receptor are expressed by papillary thyroid carcinoma from children and adolescents. Expression of erythropoietin receptor might be a favorable prognostic indicator.
Erythropoietin (EPO) and the EPO receptor (EPO-R) have been implicated in solid tumors of the brain, breast, kidney and female genital tract. Based on their expression by a variety of tumors, we hypothesized that EPO and/or EPO-R might be expressed by thyroid cancers. To test this, we determined EPO and EPO-R expression by immunohistochemistry in 17 papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTC) from children and adolescents. Only a minority of PTC (4/17, 24%) expressed EPO, and there were no significant differences between the PTC that did or did not express EPO. In contrast, EPO-R was detected in the majority of PTC (11/17, 65%). The average tumor size (1.5 +/- 0.8 cm), MACIS score (3.6 +/- 0.2) and risk of recurrence (0/11) for the EPO-R(+) PTC were significantly less than those for PTC that failed to express EPO-R (average tumor size = 3.6 +/- 2.4 cm, p = 0.021; average MACIS score = 4.3 +/- 0.7, p = 0.004; recurrence = 3/6, p = 0.029). We conclude that the majority of PTC from children and adolescents express EPO-R, a finding associated with favorable prognostic indicators and a lower risk of recurrence.
Department of Pediatrics, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland 20814, USA.
Thomas G
TG
Eccles
Aneeta
A
Patel
Ajay
A
Verma
Diarmuid
D
Nicholson
Yvonne
Y
Lukes
R Michael
RM
Tuttle
Gary L
GL
Francis
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000378:metabolism*; D002648:Child; D004921:Erythropoietin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D017467:Receptors, Erythropoietin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*
D012333:RNA, Messenger; D017467:Receptors, Erythropoietin; D004921:Erythropoietin