Proteomic analysis of papillary thyroid carcinoma in the context of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis

Objective To analyze the proteomic characteristics of papillary thyroid carcinoma in the context of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis by mass spectrometry and screen the corresponding differential proteins. Methods Postoperative paraffin specimens of 3 patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis combined with papillary thyroid carcinoma and 3 patients with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and benign nodules were collected. The differential proteins were obtained by qualitative and quantitative analysis using Q ExactiveTM mass spectrometer. Functional enrichment cluster analysis and protein interaction analysis were then performed on these differential proteins. Finally, key proteins were screened out and immunohistochemical verification was performed. Results 72 up-regulated differentially expressed proteins and 21 down-regulated differentially expressed proteins were screened out. THBS2 and COL12A1 were further identified by bioinformatics analysis. After immunohistochemical verification, it was concluded that COL12A1 can be used as a specific tumor marker. Conclusion There are differentially expressed proteins between the Hashimoto’s thyroiditis combined with papillary thyroid carcinoma group and the Hashimoto’s thyroiditis combined with benign nodules group. The up-regulated expression of COL12A1 can become an auxiliary diagnostic marker for papillary thyroid carcinoma with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.