Serum WNT-induced secreted protein 1 level as a potential biomarker for thyroid nodules

Abstract

Background. Thyroid nodule (TN) is a common thyroid disease worldwide, and it has increased significantly last decades. Most TNs are usually incidental findings of asymptomatic, benign lesions discovered by imaging modalities performed for reasons unrelated to thyroid diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the value of serum WNT-induced secreted protein 1 (WISP1) level as a supporting biomarker to perform differential diagnosis of benign and non-benign thyroid nodules. Materials and methods. The study was completed with the 89 patients undergone fine needle aspiration biopsy and 43 controls. The patients were composed of 96 (72.7 %) females and 36 (27.3 %) males. And they were divided into 2 group according to the Bethesda cytological evaluation as Benign (Bethesda 2) and Non-Benign (Bethesda 3–6) groups. Their serum WISP1 levels were measured by an ELISA method. Results. There were 58 (43.9 %) patients in Benign (Bethesda 2) and 31 (23.5 %) in non-Benign (Bethesda 3–6) groups. In the contrary nodule size was bigger in the Non-benign group than that benign group (p = 0.006). The serum WISP1 level in the Benign (Bethesda 2) group was significantly higher than that in the and Non-Benign (Bethesda 3–6) group, and controls (p < 0). The difference between benign and non-benign group accordingly to their echogenicitiy was significant (p < 0.05). In benign group there was 76.9 % mixed echoic nodules, 76.7 % isoechoic nodules 68.4 % isohypoechoic nodules and 35.7 % hypoechoic nodules. In the non-benign group, the highest hypoechoic echo (64.3 %), the least mixed echo (23.1 %), while in the benign group, the most mixed echo (76.9 %), the least hypoechoic echo (35.7 %) was present. There was no relation between WISP1 levels and echogenicity with Kruskal-Wallis H test. Conclusions. According to the preliminary results of current study, addition of serum WISP1 measurement to the differential diagnostic work-up of thyroid nodules patients may provide supportive information. In thyroid nodules patients with Benign (Bethesda 2) category of cytological evaluation, a higher level of serum WISP1 may support cytological diagnosis.