Overexpression of HIF-2α, TWIST, and CXCR4 Is Associated with Lymph Node Metastasis in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

Table 2

Immunohistochemical analysis of HIF-2𝛼, TWIST, and CXCR4 expression in 129 PTCs, 61 nodular hyperplasia, and 118 normal thyroid tissue specimens according to the scoring system.

Score	HIF-2α			TWIST			CXCR4
	Normal thyroid tissue; 𝑛 (%)	Nodular hyperplasia; 𝑛 (%)	PTC; 𝑛 (%)	Normal thyroid tissue; 𝑛 (%)	Nodular hyperplasia; 𝑛 (%)	PTC; 𝑛 (%)	Normal thyroid tissue; 𝑛 (%)	Nodular hyperplasia; 𝑛 (%)	PTC; 𝑛 (%)
0
Negative	94 (79.7)	38 (62.3)	4 (3.1)	97 (82.2)	40 (65.6)	3 (2.3)	91 (77.1)	36 (59.0)	3 (2.3)
+
1	21 (17.8)	18 (29.5)	7 (5.4)	19 (16.1)	16 (26.2)	12 (9.3)	23 (19.5)	19 (31.1)	8 (6.2)
2	3 (2.5)	4 (6.6)	16 (12.4)	2 (1.7)	5 (8.2)	17 (13.2)	4 (3.4)	4 (6.6)	13 (10.1)
3	0 (0)	1 (1.6)	18 (14.0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	19 (14.7)	0 (0)	2 (3.3)	16 (12.4)
4	0 (0)	0 (0)	20 (15.5)	0 (0)	0 (0)	22 (17.1)	0 (0)	0 (0)	18 (13.9)
++
6	0 (0)	0 (0)	16 (12.4)	0 (0)	0 (0)	19 (14.7)	0 (0)	0 (0)	19 (14.7)
8	0 (0)	0 (0)	23 (17.8)	0 (0)	0 (0)	17 (13.2)	0 (0)	0 (0)	17 (13.2)
+++
9	0 (0)	0 (0)	16 (12.4)	0 (0)	0 (0)	17 (13.2)	0 (0)	0 (0)	20 (15.5)
12	0 (0)	0 (0)	9 (7.0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	3 (2.3)	0 (0)	0 (0)	15 (11.6)

The immunohistochemical scores in PTCs, nodular hyperplasia, and normal thyroid tissue specimens were determined as the multiplication of proportion score and intensity score.