- Title
- The precursor for nerve growth factor (proNGF) is not a serum or biopsy-rinse biomarker for thyroid cancer diagnosis
- Creator
- Rowe, Christopher W.; Faulkner, Sam; Paul, Jonathan W.; Tolosa, Jorge M.; Gedye, Craig; Bendinelli, Cino; Wynne, Katie; McGrath, Shaun; Attia, John; Smith, Roger; Hondermarck, Hubert
- Relation
- BMC Endocrine Disorders Vol. 19, no. 128
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12902-019-0457-1
- Publisher
- BioMed Central
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2019
- Description
- Background: Nerves and neurotrophic growth factors are emerging promoters of cancer growth. The precursor for Nerve Growth Factor (proNGF) is overexpressed in thyroid cancer, but its potential role as a clinical biomarker has not been reported. Here we have examined the value of proNGF as a serum and biopsy-rinse biomarker for thyroid cancer diagnosis. Methods: Patients presenting for thyroid surgery or biopsy were enrolled in separate cohorts examining serum (n = 204, including 46 cases of thyroid cancer) and biopsy-rinse specimens (n = 188, including 26 cases of thyroid cancer). ProNGF levels in clinical samples were analysed by ELISA. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses were used to compare proNGF levels with malignancy status and clinicopathological parameters. Results: ProNGF was not detected in the majority of serum samples (176/204, 86%) and the detection of proNGF was not associated with thyroid cancer diagnosis. In the few cases where proNGF was detected in the serum, thyroidectomy did not affect proNGF concentration, demonstrating that the thyroid was not the source of serum proNGF. Intriguingly, an association between hyperthyroidism and serum proNGF was observed (OR 3.3, 95% CI 1.6–8.7 p = 0.02). In biopsy-rinse, proNGF was detected in 73/188 (39%) cases, with no association between proNGF and thyroid cancer. However, a significant positive association between follicular lesions and biopsy-rinse proNGF was found (OR 3.3, 95% CI 1.2–8.7, p = 0.02). Conclusions: ProNGF levels in serum and biopsy-rinse are not increased in thyroid cancer and therefore proNGF is not a clinical biomarker for this condition.
- Subject
- thyroid cancer; proNGF; biomarker; serum; biopsy-rinse; SDG 3; Sustainable Development Goals
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1413567
- Identifier
- uon:36640
- Identifier
- ISSN:1472-6823
- Rights
- This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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