DETECTION OF AUTOANTIBODIES RECOGNIZING CANCERRETINA ANTIGEN RECOVERIN IN BLOOD OF PATIENTS WITH NON-INVASIVE FOLLICULAR THYROID NEOPLASMS WITH PAPILLARY-LIKE NUCLEAR FEATURES (NIFTP)

Autoantibodies recognizing the cancer-retina autoantigen called recoverin (RCVRN-AutoAb) may serve as a highly specific biomarker of cancer-associated retinopathy. However, they may also be found in some cancer patients without clinical evidence of retinopathy. In the present study, dot-ELISA and Western blot assays were used to demonstrate the presence of circulating RCVRN-AutoAb in 4/7 (57%) of patients with recently recognized pathological entity, non-invasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features (NIFTP); other thyroid tumors represented by follicular adenomas, and classical and follicular variants of papillary thyroid carcinomas, demonstrated low frequencies of RCVRN-AutoAb (0/15, 1/20 (5%) and 1/15 (7%), respectively), with no significant differences from healthy individuals (0/15). Our data implicate the circulating RCVRN-AutoAb as a potential biomarker of NIFTP capable of discrimination of this novel pathological entity from other thyroid tumors