Increased expression cysteine-rich61 (Cyr61) in patients with thyroid carcinomas

Cysteine-rich 61 (CYR61) is a key gene in transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) signaling pathway, which plays an important role in growth and development, and is critically involved in the genesis and development of some tumors. However, the roles of CYR61 in the development of thyroid carcinomas remain unclear. The aim of our study was to evaluate changes from CYR61 in 131 patients with thyroid carcinomas (benign tumor: 12; PTC: 109; FTC: 6; MTC: 4) by semi-quantitative RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry technology. The results demonstrated that CYR-61 was significantly up-regulated in cancer tissue in comparison to begnin thyroid tumor tissue on mRNA level (P < 0.05). On protein level, CYR61 was also highly increased in cancer tissue in comparison to begnin thyroid tumor and the expression of CYR61 had no significant correction on the age and gender (p>0.05); however, it had significant association on the UICC stage and lymph node metastasis(p<0.05). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report that the expression of CYR61 is up-regulated in patients with thyroid carcinomas and our findings may have implications for targeted diagnosis and therapies in patients with thyroid carcinomas.