High Expression of Angiopoietin-1 is Associated with Lymph Node Metastasis and Invasiveness of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: We investigated the expression of angiopoietins in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and the role of angiopoietins as biomarkers predicting the aggressiveness of PTC.

METHODS: Expression of angiopoietins was evaluated by immunohistochemistry of tumor specimens from patients with PTC. We demonstrated potential correlations between expression of angiopoietins and clinicopathologic features.

RESULTS: High expression of Ang-1 was positively correlated with a tumor size >1 cm, capsular invasion, extrathyroid extension, lymphovascular invasion, lymph node metastasis, and recurrence (P < 0.05). Moreover, multivariate analysis revealed that high expression of Ang-1 was an independent risk factor for lymph node metastasis (P < 0.001, odds ratio [OR] = 62.113) and lymphovascular invasion (P = 0.027, OR 4.405). However, there was no significant correlation between Ang-2 and clinicopathologic features.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that Ang-1 can serve as a valuable prognostic biomarker for lymph node metastasis and invasiveness in patients with PTC.