| Objective: The expressions of Vitamin D Receptor(VDR),β-catenin and Cyclin D1 in Papillary Thyroid Cancer(PTC)and adjacent normal tissues were detected.Studying the relationship between VDR and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways and PTC and its clinicopathological factors.Furthermore,exploring the correlation between VDR and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways and PTC lymph node metastasis.Methods:1.45 PTC tissue samples were collected from Tangshan Workers’ Hospital from July 2021 to August 2022 after thyroid tumor surgery,and the tumor part and corresponding normal tissue adjacent to the tumor were taken.Quantitative Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction(qRT-PCR)and Immunohistochemistry(IHC)were used to assess VDR expression in PTC and paracancer normal tissue while its relationship to clinicopathological factors of PTC was analyzed.2.The expressions of β-catenin and Cyclin D1 in PTC and adjacent normal tissues were detected by qRT-PCR and IHC,and their relationships with clinicopathologic factors of PTC were analyzed.3.SPSS26.0 statistical software was used to analyze the expression of VDR and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways in PTC tissues and their correlation with lymph node metastasis by univariate and multivariate regression models.Results: 1.The results of qRT-PCR showed that the expression levels of VDR mRNA in the cancer tissues of 45 patients with PTC were significantly lower than that in the normal tissues adjacent to the cancer(P<0.05);Immunohistochemical results showed that the positive expression rates of VDR protein in cancer tissues were significantly lower than that in normal tissues adjacent to cancer,and the differences were statistically significant(P<0.05);The expression level of VDR mRNA and its protein were significantly negatively correlated with the tumor stage and lymph node metastasis of PTC patients(P<0.05),but not with age,sex and the largest diameter of the tumor(P>0.05).2.qRT-PCR results showed that the expression levels of β-Catenin mRNA and Cyclin D1 mRNA in cancer tissues of 45 patients with PTC were significantly higher than those in adjacent normal tissues,the differences were statistically significant(P<0.05).IHC results showed that the abnormal expression rates of β-catenin protein and the positive expression rates of Cyclin D1 protein in cancer tissue were significantly higher than those in adjacent normal tissue,the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).β-catenin mRNA and protein expression levels were significantly positively correlated with lymph node metastasis in PTC patients(P<0.05),but were not correlated with age,gender,maximum tumor diameter,and tumor stage(P>0.05).The expression level of Cyclin D1 mRNA was positively correlated with lymph node metastasis and tumor stage of PTC patients(P<0.05),but not with age,sex and maximum tumor diameter(P>0.05).Cyclin D1 protein expression level was not correlated with age,sex,maximum tumor diameter,lymph node metastasis,and tumor stage of patients(P>0.05).3.The relative expression level of Cyclin D1 mRNA in PTC was significantly positively correlated with that of β-catenin mRNA(P<0.05).Cyclin D1 mRNA relative expression level was significantly negatively correlated with VDR mRNA relative expression level(P<0.05),and VDR mRNA relative expression level was significantly negatively correlated with β-catenin mRNA relative expression level(P<0.05).The results of multifactor linear regression analysis showed that the relative expression level of Cyclin D1 mRNA in PTC was significantly correlated with the relative expression level of VDR mRNA and β-catenin mRNA(P<0.05).4.Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that VDR protein was an independent risk factor for lymph node metastasis in PTC,and low expression of VDR proteine promoted the occurrence of lymph node metastasis of PTC(P< 0.05).Tumor stage and β-catenin protein were not associated with lymph node metastasis of PTC(P>0.05).Conclusions:1.The expression of VDR in PTC was downregulated and negatively correlated with tumor stage and lymph node metastasis,suggesting that the low expression of VDR might promote the occurrence and development of PTC.2.β-catenin and Cyclin D1 were upregulated in PTC,and the expression of β-catenin was significantly positively correlated with lymph node metastasis,and the expression level of Cyclin D1 mRNA was significantly positively correlated with lymph node metastasis and tumor staging.It is suggested that the abnormal activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway may promote the occurrence and development of PTC.3.VDR was negatively correlated with β-catenin and Cyclin D1,whileβ-catenin was positively correlated with Cyclin D1 expression.β-catenin and VDR was significantly correlated with expression of Cyclin D1,suggesting that VDR might be involved in the occurrence of PTC by regulating Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.4.VDR protein is an independent risk factor for lymph node metastasis of PTC,and low expression of VDR protein may promote the occurrence of lymph node metastasis in PTC. |
