Abstract:

Objective To investigate the relationship between the expression of preoperative serum long non-coding RNA（lncRNA） CDKN2B-AS1 and miR-383-5p and the N stage and postoperative recurrence of thyroid cancer. Methods A total of 104 patients with thyroid cancer and 129 patients with benign thyroid diseases（control group） were enrolled from Nanshi Hospital of Nanyang from April 2021 to May 2023. The clinical data and laboratory determination results were collected，and the relative expression levels of preoperative serum lncRNA CDKN2B-AS1 and miR-383-5p were determined. According to the final pathological examination results，the patients were classified into N0 stage group（61 cases） and N1 stage group（43 cases）. The patients with thyroid cancer were followed up for 1 year after surgery，and the recurrence situation was classified into non-recurrence group（71 cases） and recurrence group（33 cases）. Receiver operating characteristic（ROC） curve was used to evaluate the efficacy of various indicators in determining the preoperative N stage and postoperative recurrence of thyroid cancer patients. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the influencing factors of postoperative recurrence in thyroid cancer patients. Results Compared with control group，the relative expression levels of preoperative serum lncRNA CDKN2B-AS1 in N0 stage group and N1 stage group were increased（P<0.05），and the relative expression levels of miR-383-5p were decreased（P<0.05）. Compared with N0 stage group，the relative expression levels of lncRNA CDKN2B-AS1 in N1 stage group were increased（P<0.05），and the relative expression levels of miR-383-5p were decreased（P<0.05）. The preoperative N1 stage proportion，thyroglobulin（Tg） and lncRNA CDKN2B-AS1 in recurrence group were higher than those in non-recurrence group（P<0.001），and miR-383-5p was lower than that in non-recurrence group（P<0.001）. There was no statistical significance in the other indicators between the 2 groups（P>0.05）. The areas under curves（AUC） of single and combined determinations of lncRNA CDKN2B-AS1 and miR-383-5p for determining the N1 stage of thyroid cancer and the AUC for determining postoperative recurrence were 0.809，0.814，0.919 and 0.856，0.833，0.962，respectively. The AUC of Tg for determining postoperative recurrence was 0.776. The lncRNA CDKN2B-AS1 increasing，miR-383-5p decreasing and preoperative N1 stage were independent risk factors for postoperative recurrence in thyroid cancer patients [odds ratios（OR） were 2.914，0.826 and 2.902，95% confidence intervals（CI） were 1.494-5.685，0.739-0.924 and 1.499-5.618，P<0.01]. Conclusions The expression of preoperative serum lncRNA CDKN2B-AS1 and miR-383-5p in thyroid cancer patients is related to the N stage and postoperative recurrence，and they may be used as biological indicators for the assessment of the condition and prognosis of thyroid cancer.

Key words: Long non-coding RNA CDKN2B-AS 1, MicroRNA-383-5p, N stage, Recurrence, Thyroid cancer