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

Table 6

mRNA expression of HIF-2α, TWIST, and CXCR4 in PTCs, nodular hyperplasia, and normal thyroid tissues.

Tissue	Case (𝑛)	HIF-2α		TWIST		CXCR4
		ΔCT, mean ± SD	𝑃 value	ΔCT, mean ± SD	𝑃 value	ΔCT, mean ± SD	𝑃 value
Normal thyroid tissue	10	2.9±0.6	—	2.8±0.7	—	4.4±1.3	—
Nodular hyperplasia	10	3.1±1.3	0.940	3.4±1.0	0.111	5.1±1.6	0.226
PTC without LNM	15	3.7±1.3	0.101	21.0±9.1	<0.001^a	28.4±8.6	<0.001^a
PTC with LNM	15	4.3±1.7	0.467	28.3±9.5	0.005^b	37.8±7.4	0.010^b

Mean ± SD of HIF-2α, TWIST and CXCR4 mRNA expression in normal thyroid and nodular hyperplasia tissues, PTCs without LNM and PTCs with LNM after normalization to GAPDH (Mann-Whitney 𝑈 test, ^asignificant difference between PTCs without LNM and normal thyroid tissues; ^bsignificant difference in HIF-2α, TWIST, and CXCR4 mRNA expression between PTCs with LNM and PTCs without LNM).