The Prognostic Significance of Transient Receptor Potential Canonical 1 and Its Association with Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor 2 in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma Patients

Abstract

Transient receptor potential canonical 1 (TRPC1) facilitates the proliferation, invasion, and metastasis of thyroid cancer cells through up-regulating vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2), while its clinical role in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is unknown. This study intended to evaluate the prognostic value of TRPC1 and its correlation with VEGFR2 in PTC patients. In this retrospective study, tumor TRPC1 immunohistochemistry (IHC) score was evaluated in 287 PTC patients who underwent surgical resection and 30 thyroid benign lesion (TBL) patients. Moreover, 50 tumor tissue samples from PTC patients were randomly selected for VEGFR2 IHC score evaluation. Our study showed that tumor TRPC1 IHC score was increased in PTC patients versus TBL patients (P = 0.006). Meanwhile, tumor TRPC1 IHC score was related to extrathyroidal invasion (P = 0.028) and pathological node stage 1 (P = 0.011) in PTC patients. Tumor TRPC1 IHC score > 0 was not related to disease-free survival (DFS) or overall survival (OS) (both P > 0.05); however, tumor TRPC1 IHC score > 3 was linked with shortened DFS (P = 0.005) and OS (P = 0.020) in PTC patients. By time-dependent area under curve (AUC) analyses, tumor TRPC1 IHC score showed good values in estimating relapse and death risks over 7 years with all AUCs above 0.7. Furthermore, tumor TRPC1 IHC score > 3 independently predicted shorter DFS (hazard ratio = 2.948, P = 0.045), but not OS (P > 0.05) in PTC patients. Tumor TRPC1 IHC score was positively associated with tumor VEGFR2 IHC score in PTC patients (P = 0.010). Collectively, TRPC1 links with extrathyroidal and lymph node invasion, elevated disease relapse risk, and increased VEGFR2 in PTC patients.