Serum Leptin as a Diagnostic Indicator for Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

Abstract

apillary thyroid cancer is one of the most common cancers worldwide and is considered to be the most common endocrinal malignancy with a higher increase in its incidence every year. This rapid continuous increase in the incidence of thyroid cancer is suggested to be as a result of many factors as the newly developed and used radiological studies which can detect subclinical cases not discovered by physical examination. Also undiscovered risk factors may be the cause for this increasing number of discovered cases which may be nutritional, hormonal or environmental factors. Obesity nowadays is considered to be a major worldwide health problem resulting from the consumption of unhealthy food, the sedentary life, psychological problems and many other causes. Obesity was proved to be associated with many types of cancer and correlated to the rapid increase in their incidence like colonic, prostatic, ovarian and endometrial carcinomas. Recent studies found that obesity and increased BMI are also correlated with the increased incidence of thyroid cancer, especially well differentiated thyroid carcinoma with a direct proportion between them. Leptin is an adipokine secreted from the body adipose tissue then circulating in the blood expressing its actions on the