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BMC Cancer
Published in: BMC Cancer 1/2020

Open Access 01-12-2020 | Thyroid Cancer | Research article

Expression of the NEK family in normal and cancer tissue: an immunohistochemical study

Authors: Talita Diniz Melo-Hanchuk, Mariana Bonjiorno Martins, Lucas Leite Cunha, Fernando Augusto Soares, Laura Sterian Ward, José Vassallo, Jörg Kobarg

Published in: BMC Cancer | Issue 1/2020

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Abstract

Background

The NEK serine/threonine protein kinases are involved in cell cycle checkpoints, DNA damage repair, and apoptosis. Alterations in these pathways are frequently associated with cell malignant cellular transformations. Thyroid cancer is the most common malignant tumour in the endocrine system. Despite good treatment methods, the number of cases has increased significantly in recent years. Here, we studied the expression of NEK1, NEK2, NEK3, and NEK5 in different types of normal and malignant tissues, using tissue microarray analysis, and identified NEKs as potential markers in thyroid malignancy.

Methods

The studied cases comprised multiple cancer tissue microarrays, including breast, colon, esophagus, kidney, lung, pancreas, prostate, stomach, thyroid and uterine cervix, as well as 281 patients who underwent thyroid resection for thyroid cancer or thyroid nodules. The expression of NEK1, NEK2, NEK3, and NEK5 was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. The expression pattern was evaluated in terms of intensity by two methods, semiquantitative and quantitative, and was compared between normal and cancer tissue.

Results

We analysed the expression of each member of the NEK family in a tissue-dependent manner. Compared to normal tissue, most of the evaluated proteins showed lower expression in lung tumour. However, in the thyroid, the expression was higher in malignant tissue, especially for NEK 1, NEK3 and NEK5. Concerning characteristics of the thyroid tumour, such as aggressiveness, NEK1 expression was higher in tumours with multifocality and in patients with lymph node metastasis. NEK3 expression was stronger in patients with stage II, that involved metastasis. NEK5, on the other hand, showed high expression in patients with invasion and metastasis and in patients with tumour size > 4 cm. Furthermore, this work, demonstrated for the first time a high specificity and sensitivity of over-expression of NEK1 in classical and follicular variants of papillary thyroid cancer and NEK3 in tall-cell papillary thyroid cancer.

Conclusion

Taken together, the NEK protein kinases emerge as important proteins in thyroid cancer development and may help to identify malignancy and aggressiveness features during diagnosis.

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Appendix
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Metadata
Title
Expression of the NEK family in normal and cancer tissue: an immunohistochemical study
Authors
Talita Diniz Melo-Hanchuk
Mariana Bonjiorno Martins
Lucas Leite Cunha
Fernando Augusto Soares
Laura Sterian Ward
José Vassallo
Jörg Kobarg
Publication date
01-12-2020
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Cancer / Issue 1/2020
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2407
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-019-6408-4

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