title: Basal STAT3 activities are negatively correlated with tumor size in papillary thyroid carcinomas.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Signal transducer and activators of transcription-3 (STAT3) plays a critical role in promoting survival and cell growth as well as facilitating angiogenesis and metastasis in several cancers.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This investigation focused on evaluation of STAT3 activities in human papillary thyroid cancers (PTC).
  
  
  METHODS
  STAT3 activities of nuclear extracts of tumor tissue were measured from 35 PTC patients using enzyme- linked immunosorbent assay-based kits.
  
  
  RESULTS
  STAT3 activities of PTC tissues were significantly lower than those of surrounding normal thyroid tissues [0.36 (interquartile range 0.24-0.72) vs 0.50 (0.29-1.11) arbitrary units, p<0.01]. We further analyzed the association between STAT3 activity and clinicopathologic factors in PTC tissue. Tumors with size ≥2 cm displayed significantly lower STAT3 activities than those <2 cm [0.25 (0.21-0.37) vs 0.53 (0.37-0.61) arbitrary units, p<0.01]. Notably, tumor size was inversely correlated with STAT3 activities in T1799A BRAF mutation-positive cases (Rs=-0.58, p<0.05), but not mutation-negative cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  STAT3 activities of PTC measured via DNA binding are suppressed in contrast to other human cancers. Tumor size larger than 2 cm is the only clinicopathologic parameter associated with low STAT3 activity. Moreover, tumor size appears inversely correlated with STAT3 activity, specifically in T1799A BRAF mutation-positive cases.
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors: W G
authors: WG
authors: Kim
authors: H-J
authors: HJ
authors: Choi
authors: W B
authors: WB
authors: Kim
authors: E Y
authors: EY
authors: Kim
authors: J H
authors: JH
authors: Yim
authors: T Y
authors: TY
authors: Kim
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Gong
authors: S Y
authors: SY
authors: Kim
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Chung
authors: Y K
authors: YK
authors: Shong
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000077273:Thyroid Cancer, Papillary; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor; C494086:STAT3 protein, human