Aim of this study was to evaluate the association between multiple essential microelements exposure and the aggressive clinicopathologic characteristics of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). The concentrations of 10 essential microelements in urine [cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), selenium (Se), strontium (Sr), zinc (Zn), and iodine (I)] were measured in 608 patients newly diagnosed with PTC, including 154 males and 454 females. Chi square test and Wilcoxon rank sum test were used to compare general characteristics among males and females. Multivariate logistic regression was used to evaluate the associations between essential microelements and PTC clinicopathologic characteristics in single- and multi-microelement models. In this study, we only observed that the frequency of lymph node metastasis in males was higher than in females, and males had higher levels of zinc than females, but males had lower levels of iodine than females. It was found that high levels of Fe were associated with decreased risk of PTC tumor size > 1 cm, capsular invasion, and advanced T stage (T3/4a/4b). High levels of Co and Mo were associated with decreased risk of capsular invasion and lymph node metastasis, respectively. However, high levels of Mn and Sr were associated with increased risk of capsular invasion and multifocality respectively, and both were associated with increased risk of advanced T stage (T3/4a/4b). These findings indicated that certain essential microelements might have potential effects on PTC progression and aggressiveness. Further studies are required to confirm these findings.

本研究的目的是评估多种必需微量元素暴露与甲状腺乳头状癌 (PTC) 侵袭性临床病理学特征之间的关联。尿液中 10 种必需微量元素的浓度 [钴 (Co)、铬 (Cr)、铜 (Cu)、铁 (Fe)、锰 (Mn)、钼 (Mo)、硒 (Se)、锶 (Sr)、锌(Zn) 和碘 (I)] 在 608 名新诊断为 PTC 的患者中进行了测量，其中男性 154 名，女性 454 名。卡方检验和 Wilcoxon 秩和检验用于比较男性和女性的一般特征。多变量逻辑回归用于评估单微量元素和多微量元素模型中必需微量元素与 PTC 临床病理学特征之间的关联。在这项研究中，我们只观察到男性淋巴结转移的频率高于女性，男性的锌含量高于女性，但男性的碘含量低于女性。研究发现，高水平的 Fe 与 PTC 肿瘤大小 > 1 cm、包膜浸润和晚期 T 分期 (T3/4a/4b) 的风险降低有关。高水平的 Co 和 Mo 分别与包膜浸润和淋巴结转移的风险降低有关。然而，高水平的 Mn 和 Sr 分别与包膜侵犯和多灶性风险增加相关，并且两者都与晚期 T 分期 (T3/4a/4b) 风险增加相关。这些发现表明，某些必需微量元素可能对 PTC 的进展和侵袭性产生潜在影响。