ESM1 Contributes to the Progression of Thyroid Cancer and Its Clinical Significance

Abstract

Background: In recent years, the incidence of thyroid cancer (TC) has gradually increased. Investigating the underlying molecular mechanism of occurrence and development of TC holds significant potential in early diagnosis and treatment. The expression of endothelial cell-specific molecule 1 (ESM1) in TC tissue and its role in the development of TC are still unknown. Therefore, this study investigated ESM1 expression and its clinical significance in TC. Methods: Initially, ESM1 expression was comparatively analyzed between TC tissues and normal tissues using the Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) database. TC and adjacent tissues (≥3 cm from cancer tissue after thyroidectomy) were collected from 51 TC patients. ESM1 expression in tissues was assessed using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), western blot analysis, and immunohistochemical (IHC) staining. The correlation between ESM1 expression and clinical data of TC patients was examined using the chi-square test. Risk factors for the prognosis of patients with TC were analyzed using Cox regression analysis. TC cell lines were transfected with ESM1 small hairpin RNA (shRNA) or its negative control employing a Lipofectamine™ 2000 kit to inhibit ESM1 expression. After ESM1 was inhibited, malignant behaviors of cells were evaluated using cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), clone formation, wound healing, and Transwell assays to assess the effect of ESM1 on TC progression. Results: The expression levels of ESM1 were significantly increased in TC tissues (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, p < 0.001, p < 0.0001). Moreover, the ESM1 expression was correlated with lymph node metastasis, cancer stage, and tumor size. After silencing ESM1, the proliferation, migration and invasion abilities of TC cells were significantly reduced (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, p < 0.001). ESM1 expression was identified as an independent prognostic factor of TC patients through Cox regression analysis. Conclusions: ESM1 promotes the development of TC and is one of the independent factors of TC prognosis. The detection of ESM1 expression may have important clinical value in the evaluation of TC, and become a new target for TC.