Thyroid carcinoma (THCA) is the most prevalent endocrine cancer worldwide. It usually presents as a neck mass and causes dysphagia, dysphonia or hoarseness, stridor, and dyspnea due to its occupying effect on the esophagus and trachea (1, 2). Although THCA mortality has remained relatively low and has even steadily declined in some countries, the incidence of THCA has increased significantly in recent decades (3). The rising incidence of THCA has had a significant impact on the elderly population, as adults aged 65 years and above have experienced the greatest increase in THCA incidence and the greatest change in cancer prognosis. This further leads to a greater risk of THCA treatment as well, due to lower renal clearance, increased likelihood of radioiodine overtreatment, and increased risk of arrhythmias and bone loss due to suppressive doses of thyroid hormone replacement (4).

Lymphatic metastases are usually strongly associated with reduced cancer survival (5). For most cancers, the dissemination of tumor cells through the lymphatic system is the most common route of metastasis. Lymphatic vessels surround solid tumors and promote metastasis by increasing the hyperpermeability of capillaries and the expansion of collecting vessels (6). Therefore, the presence of lymphatic metastases is an important indicator of tumor progression and a sign of worsening tumor staging. Suitable biomarkers should not only monitor disease progression and response to therapy but also identify patients at high risk of recurrence (7). With the emergence of new effective therapies, drugs have been developed to play an important role in inhibiting tumor lymphatic metastasis by targeting biomarkers and thus. For example, it has been suggested that anlotinib may prevent lymphangiogenesis and distant lymphatic metastasis in lung adenocarcinoma by inactivating VEGFR-3 phosphorylation (8). In THCA, it has been indicated that miRNA-148a, a member of endogenously expressed small non-coding RNA molecules, can inhibit cell growth and metastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma through STAT3 and PI3K/AKT signaling pathways (9). However, the underlying mechanism of THCA development is still unknown, so a predictive biomarker is needed to determine disease progression and prognosis. The present study, however, explores genes that may affect lymphatic metastasis of THCA based on comprehensive bioinformatics analysis and investigates their relationship with immune infiltration to provide new ideas for the clinical treatment of lymphatic metastasis of THCA.

Tumor metastasis refers to the spread of cancer cells from the primary tumor to the circulatory system and their colonization of distant organs. It generally includes both hematogenous and lymphatic metastases and is one of the most critical aspects of tumor progression, which can lead to approximately 90% of cancer-related deaths (12). During metastasis, the lymph nodes near the primary tumor are usually the most common site of cancer cell dissemination (13). In most tumors, lymphatic metastasis is directly associated with distant recurrence and overall survival (14). Therefore, it is necessary to find biomarkers that can predict the phenomenon of early metastasis. In the present study, we detected 115 gene expression differences, 28 upregulated genes, and 87 downregulated genes in two groups of samples with and without lymphatic metastasis in THCA. We then constructed a PPI network of these genes and screened a total of seven hub genes: EVA1A, TIMP1, SERPINA1, FAM20A, FN1, TNC, and MXRA8.

EVA1A is a protein-encoding gene involved in autophagy and apoptosis-induced cell death (15). EVA1A is expressed in a cell- and tissue-specific manner and is significantly downregulated in many types of human tumors (16). TIMP1 is a secreted protein and an endogenous inhibitor of MMP9 (17). TIMP1 inhibits the protein hydrolytic activity of MMP and plays a role in the balance of matrix remodeling during extracellular matrix degradation, which has an important role in tumor invasion and metastasis (18). In colorectal cancer, increased IMP1 activity may be associated with the metastasis of colorectal cancer (19). SERPINA1, also known as α-1-antitrypsin (AAT), is a protease inhibitor constitutively released from hepatocytes. It is primarily active at sites of inflammation and usually protects healthy cells near inflamed tissue (20). Fam20A is a secretory pathway pseudokinase that forms a functional complex with Fam20C and metastasizes to increase the activity of Fam20C on secreted substrates, including enamel matrix proteins (21). FN1 is a member of the FN family, and its expression in human malignancies and has a key role in tumorigenesis and tumor progression (22). TNC is a key tendonogenic protein in the extracellular matrix glycoprotein family that often exhibits reduced expression in normal adult tissues but exhibits increased expression during embryonic development, tumor, injury repair, and inflammation. TNC has also been identified as a potentially important indicator of disease severity (23). MXRA8 is a protein that is expressed in adhesion molecules found in epithelial cells, bone marrow cells, and mesenchymal cells (24). It is also a receptor for several arthritogenic metaviruses and has been suggested as a possible drug target for infections and diseases caused by these metaviruses (25). In the present study, several genes, EVA1A, TIMP1, SERPINA1, FAM20A, FN1, TNC, and MXRA8, were found to be significantly upregulated in THCA with lymphatic metastasis. Subsequent prognostic analysis showed that only EVA1A had prognostic significance in THCA with or without lymphatic metastasis.

The lymphatic system can act as an interface between innate and adaptive immunity and can actively communicate and sense inflammatory stimuli from the periphery (26). Lymph nodes are also common sites of tumor metastasis, and cancer cells in lymph nodes can shape their interactions with the host immune system by controlling the infiltration and reactivity of immune cells (27). This could suggest that lymphatic metastasis may be closely linked to the infiltration of immune cells. There are previous findings that suggest that cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are associated with macrophage infiltration in triple-negative breast cancer patients. CAFs may play an important role in shaping the tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment by regulating the pro-tumor phenotype of macrophages (28). Previous literature has also stated that increased lymphatic vessel density in melanoma is associated with increased CD8⁺ T cell infiltration, and it has been proposed that lymphatic activation may promote the accumulation of CD8⁺ T cells around and within tumors (29). The results of our enrichment analysis also showed a possible association between the seven hub genes and immunity. Therefore, the present study also analyzed the correlation between these genes and the level of THCA immune cell infiltration. The analysis showed that all seven genes were significantly positively correlated with macrophage M1 and NK cells and negatively correlated with T-cell CD4+ and myeloid dendritic cells. It has been shown that TIMP-1 levels are elevated in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and that its elevated levels can lead to increased neutrophil numbers and decreased lung function (30). It has also been shown that SERPINA1 has immunosuppressive effects and that with an increase in SERPINA1, the body loses immune surveillance against mutant cells and induced tumors (31). Although there are no definitive studies indicating their role in thyroid cancer on immune cell infiltration, changes in their levels have been shown to have an impact on the level of immune cells and thus on the progression of the disease. Similar studies have shown that dendritic cells and neutrophils, in papillary thyroid cancer, are strongly associated with histological subtype, mutational status, T-staging and lymph node metastasis (32).This further proves that immune cell infiltration can promote lymphatic metastasis of thyroid cancer. Combined with this study, it can be seen that this process is closely related to these seven key genes, but the specific mechanism remains to be studied.

Finally, we performed a LASSO logistic regression analysis of the gene expression matrix of seven of the THCA cohort from the TCGA database by the presence or absence of lymph node metastasis to finalize the risk scores constructed for the five most relevant genes (EVA1A, SERPINA1, FN1, TNC, MXRA8). In addition, multivariate Cox regression analysis based on the five genes in the risk score formula showed that eva1a, serpina1 and FN1 were independent prognostic factors. It can be explained that eva1a, serpina1 and FN1 are closely related to the prognosis of THCA lymphatic metastasis.

It should be acknowledged that our study has some unavoidable limitations. TCGA is a regularly updated public database, but the sample size and data volume are limited, and the clinicopathological information is not comprehensive. This may lead to some potential errors or biases. More data should be included in the future to improve the model. Given that the study is based on bioinformatics analysis, validation from in vivo and in vitro experiments is lacking. We will also continue the study.

In summary, Our results showed that seven genes were associated with lymphatic metastasis in THCA, and all seven genes were significantly positively correlated with macrophage M1 and NK cells, and negatively correlated with T-cell CD4+ and myeloid dendritic cells. This suggests that these seven genes may promote lymphatic metastasis of THCA through immune cell infiltration. In addition, EVA1A, SERPINA1 and FN1 were strongly associated with the prognosis of THCA lymphatic metastasis. This provides a potential direction for immunotherapy to stop the progression of THCA.

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

We contributed equally for this work. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Authors XZ and ZQ were employed by Suzhou Biobay and Prophet Genomics Inc.

The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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