Thyroid cancers express CD-40 and CD-40 ligand: cancers that express CD-40 ligand may have a greater risk of recurrence in young patients.
The immune response might suppress thyroid cancer recurrence. Although the factors that control this are unknown, CD-40 and CD-40 ligand might be important. To test this, we stained 36 papillary (PTC) and four follicular (FTC) thyroid carcinomas for CD-40 (n = 37) and CD-40 ligand (n = 36) and graded staining from absent (grade 0) to intense (grade 3). Follicular cells of the majority of thyroid tumors expressed CD-40 (30/37, 81%) and CD-40 ligand (15/24, 69%). Cancers from young patients (< or =21 years of age) that expressed CD-40 contained more numerous lymphocytes/high-power field (36 +/- 11) than cancers that failed to express CD-40 (4 +/- 3, p = 0.01), but there was no correlation with clinical outcome. Among young patients, CD-40 ligand expression was more intense in multifocal (1.1 +/- 0.2 vs. 0.45 +/- 0.2, p = 0.037), aggressive (1.14 +/- 0.14 vs. 0.65 +/- 0.2, p = 0.05) and recurrent tumors (1.2 +/- 0.2 vs. 0.65 +/- 0.2, p = 0.05) and associated with reduced disease-free survival (p = 0.03). We conclude that the majority of thyroid cancers express CD-40 and CD-40 ligand. In patients < or =21 years of age, tumors with intense expression of CD-40 ligand are more often multifocal, aggressive, and recurrent.
Costello
Amy
A
Department of Pediatrics, Wright-Patterson Air Force Medical Center, Dayton, Ohio, USA.
Rey-Hipolito
Christine
C
Patel
Aneeta
A
Oakley
Kevin
K
Vasco
Vasyl
V
Calabria
Chris
C
Tuttle
R Michael
RM
Francis
Gary L
GL
D018263:Adenocarcinoma, Follicular / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D019013:CD40 Antigens / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D023201:CD40 Ligand / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D002648:Child; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012307:Risk Factors; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*
D019013:CD40 Antigens; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D023201:CD40 Ligand