Expression of Chitinase 3 Like 1 Associates with the Recurrence and Survival in Patients with Differentiated Thyroid Cancer

Introduction

Chitinase 3 like 1 (CHI3L1), also known as YKL-40, is a secreted glycoprotein which lacks chitinase activity. Recently, our transcriptome analysis revealed that the expression of CHI3L1 was progressively increased along with the disease progression of papillary thyroid cancer. In the present study, we aimed to analyze the clinicopathological correlation with the expression of CHI3L1.

Material and method

The expression of CHI3L1 was analyzed immunohistochemically in 131 paired normal and neoplastic tissues of differentiated thyroid cancer. Kaplan-Meier analysis and the log-rank test were performed to assess statistical significance.

Results and discussion

A total of 131 differentiated thyroid cancers were included in the study. Patients with higher CHI3L1 expression levels were older at diagnosis (P = 0.016) and more likely had extrathyroidal invasion (P < 0.001), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.004), advanced TNM stage (P = 0.001), and higher risk of recurrence (P < 0.001). During the follow-up, patients with higher CHI3L1 expression levels had shorter overall survival (P = 0.03) and recurrence-free survival (P = 0.007).

Conclusion

The expression of CHI3L1 in differentiated thyroid cancer was associated with tumor invasiveness and patient outcomes. It will be interesting to evaluate whether CHI3L1 could also be served as a therapeutic target.