Serum level of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 as a potential biomarker for medullary thyroid cancer

Raziyeh Abooshahab,1 Elham niyazi,2 Prichehr yaghmaei,3 hoda gholab ghadaksaz,4 Mehdi hedayati,5,*

1. Cellular and Molecular Endocrine Research Center, Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences,
2. Department of Biology, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Science Research Branch of Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
3. Department of Biology, Faculty of Basic Sciences, Science Research Branch of Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
4. Cellular and Molecular Endocrine Research Center, Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences, Shahid Beheshti Univers
5. Cellular and Molecular Endocrine Research Center, Research Institute for Endocrine Sciences,

Abstract

Introduction

Adipokines are the proteins secreted from adipose tissue which play an important role in the control of metabolism. dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (dpp4) is a type of adipokines with different biological role. as indicated by various studies, serum levels of dpp4 had been associated with bmi, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and generally malignancy. the aim of this study was to assess the serum levels of dpp4 in patients with medullary thyroid cancer (mtc) and to compare them with the control group.

Methods

This study was performed on 45 mtc patients (24 females and 21 males) and 45 healthy controls (21 females and 24 males). dpp4 and insulin serum levels were measured by elisa, fasting glucose serum levels by enzyme-calorimetric method and insulin resistance index (homa-ir) by calculation using relevant equation. body mass index (kg/m2) was also calculated.

Results

Our data did not demonstrate a significant difference between serum dpp4 levels in medullary thyroid carcinomas and healthy group (41.06±22.08 ng/ml vs. 39.94±20.77 ng/ml p>0.05). additionally, no significant difference was found in serum insulin and homa-ir concentrations between mtc patients and the controls (p>0.05).

Conclusion

This study suggests that the fluctuation in the levels of dpp4 does not play an important role in prognosis, early detection and diagnosis of medullary thyroid cancer. furthermore, higher levels of dpp4 cannot be considered as a risk factor for medullary thyroid cancer.

Keywords

Dipeptidyl peptidase 4(dpp4), insulin resistance, medullary thyroid cancer (mtc)