Association of Toll-Like Receptor 2 Polymorphisms with Papillary Thyroid Cancer and Clinicopathologic Features in a Korean Population

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were analyzed in patients with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC; n = 133) and their clinicopathologic features and age-matched controls (n = 321) using direct sequencing. PTC patients were divided into subgroups according to size, number, location, extrathyroidal invasion and lymph node metastasis. The two SNPs of TLR2 gene were not associated with the development of PTC. In clinical analysis, two SNPs were associated with location of cancer (rs3804099, P = 0.032, OR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.28-0.96 in log-additive model; rs3804100, P = 0.039, OR, 0.46, 95% CI, 0.22-0.96 in codominant1 model; P = 0.018, OR, 0.42, 95% CI, 0.21-0.87 in dominant model; P = 0.011, OR, 0.46, 95% CI, 0.25-0.85 in log-additive model). The allele frequencies of two SNPs also showed significant associations with location of cancer (rs3804099, P = 0.046, OR, 0.57, 95% CI, 0.33-0.99 and rs3804100, P = 0.019, OR = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.30-0.90). However, two SNPs were not associated with the clinicopathologic features of PTC. It is suggested that TLR2 polymorphisms may contribute to the clinicopathologic features of PTC, especially the PTC in both lobes.