Volume : 4, Issue : 4, April - 2015

Leptin Receptor Expression in Parathyroid Cancer

Zorka Inic, Momcilo Inic, Snezana Jancic, Ivan Paunovic, Milan Zegarac, Ivana Inic

Abstract :

<p>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;Background:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;div&gt;Epidemiology studies have shown that there is a strong, positive correlation between obesity and the incidence of&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;several types of carcinoma. One of the most important mediators correlating between obesity and an increased risk of cancer is leptin, which is&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;an adipokine whose major functions are regulating appetite and energy homeostasis. However, no previous studies have yet to examine leptin&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;or its receptor expression in parathyroid cancer (PC).&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;PC is a rare malignancy which accounts about 1% of the cases of primary hyperparathyroidism.&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;Methods:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;In this study, the expression of leptin receptors (OBRs) was examined in 10 parathyroid cancer samples using immunohistochemistry, for which&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;their associations with clinicopathological parameters were also evaluated. Ten patients (six men, four women) underwent operations for&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;parathyroid carcinoma and primary hyperparathyroidism (HPTH) at the Clinical Centre of Serbia. All patients had hypercalcemia (a mean of 3.55&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;mmol/l) and elevated parathyroid hormone (a mean of 1824 pg/ml).&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;Results:&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;The expression of leptin is associated with OBRs, which were observed in the tumor cell memane and/or cytoplasm of these patients, at a&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;positive rate of 40 %. The Mann&amp;ndash;Whitney Test confirmed a statistically significant difference (p=0.033) in the glands weight which was not&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;possible to find in regard to parathyroid hormone, calcium, glands size, multifocality or age, due to the size of the sample, although they were&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;increased in this group.&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;Conclusion:&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;The results of the researches have found that the expression levels of leptin and OBRs are mutully associated and have a role in the development&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;of a large variety of malignancies promoting angiogenic factors that increase cancer cell survival, proliferation, and migration. The results&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;signify the expression of leptin and/or OBRs in parathyroid cancer to be associated with parathyroid weight and may be a potential target in&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;parathyroid cancer.&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;This is still the first report. Further research is necessary in order to determine the potential prognostic and thearapeutic implication of the leptin/&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div&gt;OBRs system and whether a correlation exists with other clinicopathological features.&lt;/div&gt;</p>