Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Endocrinology Research and Practice, cilt.29, sa.3, ss.229-234, 2025 (Scopus)
Objective: This study aims to compare the expression levels of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4), sodium-iodide symporter (NIS), and thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor (TSH-R) in papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) patients with and without lymph node (LN) metastasis and to evaluate the impact of these parameters on disease prognosis. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 122 patients with PTMC. Immunohistochemical staining was used to analyze DPP-4, NIS, and TSH-R expression levels and assess their relationship with LN metastasis. Results: Lymph node metastasis was present in 18.0% of the patients, while 82.0% had no metastasis. Lymph node metastasis was significantly more frequent in males (P =.031), patients with elevated TSH levels (P =.022), those with multiple tumor foci (P =.036), and in patients with larger tumor size (P =.013). Patients with high TSH-R expression intensity showed a significantly increased rate of LN metastasis (P =.042). No significant relationship was observed between LN metastasis and staining scores for NIS in surrounding or tumor tissue, nor for DPP-4. Conclusion: Male gender, elevated TSH levels, multiple tumor foci, increased tumor size, and high TSH-R expression are significantly associated with LN metastasis in PTMC patients. These findings suggest that TSH-R expression may serve as a potential indicator for PTMC prognosis, although further studies with larger patient cohorts are required to confirm these findings.