A‐kinase interacting protein 1 as a potential biomarker of advanced tumor features and increased recurrence risk in papillary thyroid carcinoma patients

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to detect the expression of A‐kinase interacting protein 1 (AKIP1) and explore its correlation with clinicopathological features and clinical outcomes in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) patients. METHODS: A total of 245 PTC patients treated by lobectomy or thyroidectomy were analyzed in this retrospective study. AKIP1 expression in tumor and adjacent tissue (from Specimen Room of our hospital) was detected by immunohistochemical (IHC) assay and then categorized as four grades: AKIP1 low (IHC score ≤3), high+ (IHC score 4‐6), high++ (IHC score 7‐9), and high+++ (IHC score 10‐12). RESULTS: A‐kinase interacting protein 1 low, high+, high++, and high+++ expression was 101 (41.2%), 101 (41.2%), 32 (13.1%), and 11 (4.5%) in tumor tissues, while was 173 (70.6%), 61 (24.9%), 9 (3.7%), and 2 (0.8%) in adjacent tissues. Further comparison analysis showed increased grade of AKIP1 expression in tumor tissues compared to adjacent tissue. Meanwhile, increased grade of tumor AKIP1 expression was correlated with larger tumor size, extrathyroidal invasion, increased pT stage, and higher pTNM stage. For prognosis, increased grade of tumor AKIP1 expression was correlated with shorter disease‐free survival (DFS), while was not correlated with overall survival (OS). Forward stepwise multivariate Cox's regression revealed that higher tumor AKIP1 was an independent factor predicting worse DFS, but not OS. CONCLUSION: AKIP1 is upregulated in tumor tissue, and increased tumor AKIP1 expression correlates with advanced tumor features and increased recurrence risk in PTC patients, which suggest that AKIP1 severs as a potential marker for effective supervision of PTC progression.