Serum Oncofetal Fibronectin (onfFN) mRNA in Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma (DTC): Large Overlap between Disease-Free and Metastatic Patients

Aim: This study assessed if onfFN mRNA in the peripheral blood of patients with DTC can identify individualswith metastatic disease.
Methods: Comparison of onfFN mRNA was made among 3 groups: disease-free, lymphnode metastasis, and distant metastasis using real-time RT-PCR on 5 ml blood samples from each DTC patient.
Results: Fifty-one patients were included: 30 (59%) were disease-free; 7 (13.7%) had lymph node metastasis; and14 (27.5%) had distant metastasis. OnfFN mRNA levels in the 3 groups were significantly different (P=0.001)but with a large overlap and the expression being highest in the disease-free group. Subgroup analysis of themetastatic groups did not show any effect of age, cell type, and serum TSH, Tg, and antiTg on onfFN mRNA.The within-run and between-run root mean square coefficients of variations were <2%.
Conclusion: OnfFNmRNA in patients with DTC cannot identify those with metastatic disease.