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Cytokine production in patients with papillary thyroid cancer and associated autoimmune Hashimoto thyroiditis

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Abstract

Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT) is the most frequent thyroid autoimmune disease, while papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is one of the most common endocrine malignancies. A few patients with HT also develop PTC. The aim of this study was to analyze cytokine profiles in patients with PTC accompanied with autoimmune HT in comparison with those in patients with PTC alone or HT alone and healthy subjects. Cytokine levels were determined in supernatants obtained from phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-stimulated whole blood cultures in vitro. The concentrations of selected cytokines: Th1—interferon gamma (IFN-γ); Th2—interleukin 4 (IL-4), interleukin 5 (IL-5), interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin 10 (IL-10) and interleukin 13 (IL-13); Th9—interleukin 9 (IL-9); and Th17—interleukin 17 (IL-17A) were measured using multiplex cytokine detection systems for human Th1/Th2/Th9/Th17/Th22. We found that PTC patients with HT produced significantly higher concentrations of IL-4, IL-6, IL-9, IL-13 and IFN-γ than PTC patients without HT. In conclusion, autoimmune HT affects the cytokine profile of patients with PTC by stimulating secretion of Th1/Th2/Th9 types of cytokines. Th1/Th2 cytokine ratios in PTC patients with associated autoimmune HT indicate a marked shift toward Th2 immunity.

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Abbreviations

Abs:

Antibodies

HT:

Hashimoto thyroiditis

IFN-γ:

Interferon gamma

IL:

Interleukin

PHA:

Phytohemagglutinin

PTC:

Papillary thyroid cancer

Tg:

Thyroglobulin

Th1:

T-helper-1

Th17:

T-helper-17

Th2:

T-helper-2

Th9:

T-helper-9

TPO:

Thyroperoxidase

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers whose remarks and suggestions have highly improved the final version of our paper. The study was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia (Grant Nos. III41010 and ON175069) and Faculty of Medical Sciences University of Kragujevac, Serbia (JP 06-12).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Svetozara Markovica 69, 34000, Kragujevac, Serbia

    Snezana Zivancevic-Simonovic, Olgica Mihaljevic, Suzana Popovic, Slavica Markovic, Olivera Milosevic-Djordjevic, Zorica Jovanovic & Ljiljana Mijatovic-Teodorovic

  2. Institute for Medical Research, Military Medical Academy, Belgrade, Serbia

    Ivana Majstorovic, Dusan Mihajlovic & Miodrag Colic

  3. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Clinical Center Kragujevac, Kragujevac, Serbia

    Slavica Markovic & Ljiljana Mijatovic-Teodorovic

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  1. Snezana Zivancevic-Simonovic
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  2. Olgica Mihaljevic
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Correspondence to Snezana Zivancevic-Simonovic.

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Zivancevic-Simonovic, S., Mihaljevic, O., Majstorovic, I. et al. Cytokine production in patients with papillary thyroid cancer and associated autoimmune Hashimoto thyroiditis. Cancer Immunol Immunother 64, 1011–1019 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-015-1705-5

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