Objective: To investigate the relationship between the immunity and invasiveness in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC).
Methods: Totally 74 DTC who were treated in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from September 2012 to December 2012 were enrolled in this study. These 74 patients were divided into membrane invasion group (n=36) and without membrane invasion group (n=38); also, they were divided into distant metastasis group (n=18) and without distant metastasis group (n=56). Natural killer (NK) cells and T-cell subsets were chosen as indicators for cellular immunity to investigate the correlation between cellular immunity and invasiveness in DTC.
Results: Univariate analysis showed that the membrane invasion (Χ(2)=12.175, P=0.000) and distant metastasis (Χ(2)=8.139, P=0.006) correlated with cell immunity, whereas distant metastasis correlated with lymphocytic thyroiditis (Χ(2)=7.094, P=0.008). Further investigation shows that distant metastasis was associated with the percentage of CD8+T cell subgroup (Χ(2)=5.429, P=0.020), and membrane invasion was significantly associated with NK cells (Χ(2)=2.445, P=0.018) and CD4/CD8 disorder subgroup (Χ(2)=8.079, P=0.002). Multivariate analysis showed that cell immunity disorder was a risk factor for membrane invasion [OR=5.701,95%CI(2.075~15.666), P=0.001] and distant metastasis [OR=5.063,95%CI (1.571~16.320), P=0.008]. Further analysis showed that CD8+T cell was a risk factor for metastasis [OR=2.236,95%CI( 1.084~4.613), P=0.029], and CD4/CD8 disorders were the risk factors for membrane invasion [OR=2.802,95%CI(1.257~6.244), P=0.012].
Conclusion: Cell immunity in thyroid cancer has close relationship with membrane invasion and distant metastasis, especially when the percentage of CD8+T cells decreases and when the NK cells and CD4/CD8 are abnormal, which may lead to membrane invasion and distant metastasis.