Immunohistochemical Analysis of Toll-Like Receptors, MyD88, and TRIF in Human Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma and Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma

PURPOSE: We hypothesized that innate immune response pathways might be involved in thyroid carcinogenesis. To investigate this hypothesis, we aimed at analyzing the expression of several receptors and molecules in the innate immune system in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) tissues. METHODS: Of the surgically resected specimens, 11 ATC tissues, 25 PTC tissues, and 8 nodular hyperplasia (NH) tissues were selected and examined for the expression of toll-like receptor (TLR) 2, TLR3, TLR4, TLR5, TLR7, TLR9, the myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88 (MyD88), and toll-interleukin-1 receptor domain-containing adaptor inducing INF-β (TRIF) by immunohistochemistry (IHC). RESULTS: Several TLRs were expressed in each tissue. TLR3 was strongly expressed in all tissues. In contrast, TLR4 was not detected in any tissues. While TLR5 was moderately expressed in NH but significantly reduced in PTC and ATC, TLR9 was absent in NH tissue but moderately expressed in both PTC and ATC. On MyD88 expression, no significant difference was found between PTC and ATC. TRIF was significantly upregulated in PTC and ATC compared to NH. Surprisingly, PTC and ATC tissues exhibited similar expression patterns of TLRs, MyD88, and TRIF. CONCLUSION: These data suggest the involvement of the innate immune system in both PTC and ATC. Specifically, TLR3-mediated TRIF activation was confirmed in PTC and ATC. This provides new insight into thyroid carcinogenesis.