Clinical significance of integrin β6 as a tumor recurrence factor in follicular thyroid carcinoma.

Background: Overexpression of integrin β6 plays an important role in a variety of malignant tumor invasion and metastasis.

Methods: The expression levels of integrin β6, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 were analyzed by immunohistochemistry with human follicular thyroid carcinomas. Then we investigated their correlation with clinical outcomes parameters, relationship, and the survival time.

Results: The integrin β6 staining was expressed in cellular membrane and cytoplasm of follicular thyroid carcinoma cells. The MMP-2 and MMP-9 expressions were mainly found in cellular cytoplasm. In correlation with the clinical outcome parameters of 60 patients, there were significant statistical differences of integrin β6, MMP-2, and MMP-9 expression levels in different size of tumor. Integrin β6 and MMP-9 expressions have significant statistical differences in T classifications. MMP-2 and MMP-9 expressions have significant statistical differences in different M classification. Other clinical outcome parameters had no significant statistical differences.

Conclusion: Integrin β6 expression correlated significantly with MMP-9 expression, and may be a valuable recurrence indicator for follicular thyroid carcinomas.