The impact of thyroid hormones on patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

<h4>Background & aims</h4>Hypothyroidism has recently been proposed as predisposing factor for HCC development. However, the role of thyroid hormones (TH) in established HCC is largely unclear. We investigated the impact of TH on clinical characteristics and prognosis of HCC patients...

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Main Authors: Matthias Pinter, Lukas Haupt, Florian Hucke, Simona Bota, Theresa Bucsics, Michael Trauner, Markus Peck-Radosavljevic, Wolfgang Sieghart
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2017-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0181878&type=printable
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author Matthias Pinter
Lukas Haupt
Florian Hucke
Simona Bota
Theresa Bucsics
Michael Trauner
Markus Peck-Radosavljevic
Wolfgang Sieghart
author_facet Matthias Pinter
Lukas Haupt
Florian Hucke
Simona Bota
Theresa Bucsics
Michael Trauner
Markus Peck-Radosavljevic
Wolfgang Sieghart
author_sort Matthias Pinter
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Background & aims</h4>Hypothyroidism has recently been proposed as predisposing factor for HCC development. However, the role of thyroid hormones (TH) in established HCC is largely unclear. We investigated the impact of TH on clinical characteristics and prognosis of HCC patients.<h4>Methods</h4>Of 838 patients diagnosed with nonsurgical HCC at the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology/Medical University of Vienna between 1992 and 2012, 667 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The associations of thyroid function tests with patient, liver, and tumor characteristics as well as their impact on overall survival (OS) were investigated.<h4>Results</h4>Thyroid hormone substitution was more often observed in patients with low thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) concentration and in patients with elevated free tetraiodthyronine (fT4). Patients with high TSH (>3.77uU/ml) concentrations had larger tumors, while the opposite was true for patients with low TSH (<0.44uU/ml) concentrations. Subjects with elevated fT4 (>1.66ng/dl) were more likely to have elevated CRP. While TSH was only associated with OS in univariate analysis (≤1.7 vs. >1.7uU/ml, median OS (95%CI), 12.3 (8.9-15.7 months) vs. 7.3 months (5.4-9.2 months); p = 0.003), fT4 (≤1.66 vs. >1.66ng/dl, median OS (95%CI), 10.6 (7.5-13.6 months) vs. 3.3 months (2.2-4.3 months); p = 0.007) remained an independent prognostic factor for OS (HR (95%CI) for fT4>1.66ng/dl, 2.1 (1.3-3.3); p = 0.002) in multivariate analysis.<h4>Conclusions</h4>TSH and fT4 were associated with prognostic factors of HCC (i.e., tumor size, CRP level). Elevated fT4 concentrations were independently associated with poor prognosis in HCC. Further studies are needed to characterize the role of TH in HCC in detail.
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spelling doaj-art-38cf4302b50c4708a769c6a6ded4d5fc2025-08-20T02:03:58ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032017-01-01128e018187810.1371/journal.pone.0181878The impact of thyroid hormones on patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.Matthias PinterLukas HauptFlorian HuckeSimona BotaTheresa BucsicsMichael TraunerMarkus Peck-RadosavljevicWolfgang Sieghart<h4>Background & aims</h4>Hypothyroidism has recently been proposed as predisposing factor for HCC development. However, the role of thyroid hormones (TH) in established HCC is largely unclear. We investigated the impact of TH on clinical characteristics and prognosis of HCC patients.<h4>Methods</h4>Of 838 patients diagnosed with nonsurgical HCC at the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology/Medical University of Vienna between 1992 and 2012, 667 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The associations of thyroid function tests with patient, liver, and tumor characteristics as well as their impact on overall survival (OS) were investigated.<h4>Results</h4>Thyroid hormone substitution was more often observed in patients with low thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) concentration and in patients with elevated free tetraiodthyronine (fT4). Patients with high TSH (>3.77uU/ml) concentrations had larger tumors, while the opposite was true for patients with low TSH (<0.44uU/ml) concentrations. Subjects with elevated fT4 (>1.66ng/dl) were more likely to have elevated CRP. While TSH was only associated with OS in univariate analysis (≤1.7 vs. >1.7uU/ml, median OS (95%CI), 12.3 (8.9-15.7 months) vs. 7.3 months (5.4-9.2 months); p = 0.003), fT4 (≤1.66 vs. >1.66ng/dl, median OS (95%CI), 10.6 (7.5-13.6 months) vs. 3.3 months (2.2-4.3 months); p = 0.007) remained an independent prognostic factor for OS (HR (95%CI) for fT4>1.66ng/dl, 2.1 (1.3-3.3); p = 0.002) in multivariate analysis.<h4>Conclusions</h4>TSH and fT4 were associated with prognostic factors of HCC (i.e., tumor size, CRP level). Elevated fT4 concentrations were independently associated with poor prognosis in HCC. Further studies are needed to characterize the role of TH in HCC in detail.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0181878&type=printable
spellingShingle Matthias Pinter
Lukas Haupt
Florian Hucke
Simona Bota
Theresa Bucsics
Michael Trauner
Markus Peck-Radosavljevic
Wolfgang Sieghart
The impact of thyroid hormones on patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
PLoS ONE
title The impact of thyroid hormones on patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
title_full The impact of thyroid hormones on patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
title_fullStr The impact of thyroid hormones on patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
title_full_unstemmed The impact of thyroid hormones on patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
title_short The impact of thyroid hormones on patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.
title_sort impact of thyroid hormones on patients with hepatocellular carcinoma
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0181878&type=printable
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