Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2018 Nov;33(6):1050-1057.
doi: 10.3904/kjim.2018.289. Epub 2018 Oct 30.

Clinical implications of anti-thyroglobulin antibody measurement before surgery in thyroid cancer

Kwanhoon Jo  1 , Dong-Jun Lim  2
Affiliations
Review

Clinical implications of anti-thyroglobulin antibody measurement before surgery in thyroid cancer

Kwanhoon Jo et al. Korean J Intern Med. 2018 Nov.

Abstract

Thyroglobulin antibody (TgAb) is a class G immunoglobulin and a conventional marker for thyroid autoimmunity. From a clinical perspective, TgAb is less useful than thyroid peroxidase antibodies for predicting thyroid dysfunction. However, TgAb is found more frequently in differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) and can interfere with thyroglobulin (Tg) measurements, which are used to monitor the recurrence or persistence of DTC. Recent studies suggested a small but consistent role for preoperative TgAb in predicting DTC in thyroid nodules, and in reflecting adverse tumor characteristics or prognosis, including lymph node metastasis, but this is still controversial. Postoperative TgAb can serve as a biomarker for remnant thyroid tissue, so follow-up measures of TgAb are useful for predicting cancer recurrence in DTC patients. Since high serum TgAb levels may also affect the fine needle aspiration washout Tg levels from suspicious lymph nodes of DTC patients, it is important to use caution when interpreting the washout Tg levels in patients who are positive for TgAb.

Keywords: Anti-thyroglobulin; Thyroid neoplasms.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

References

    1. Hegedus L. Clinical practice: the thyroid nodule. N Engl J Med. 2004;351:1764–1771. - PubMed
    1. Hori M, Katanoda K. Morphological distribution of thyroid cancer from Cancer Incidence in Five Continents Vol. X. Jpn J Clin Oncol. 2015;45:1182. - PubMed
    1. Cho BY, Choi HS, Park YJ, et al. Changes in the clinicopathological characteristics and outcomes of thyroid cancer in Korea over the past four decades. Thyroid. 2013;23:797–804. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Haugen BR, Alexander EK, Bible KC, et al. 2015 American Thyroid Association management guidelines for adult patients with thyroid nodules and differentiated thyroid cancer: the American Thyroid Association Guidelines task force on thyroid nodules and differentiated thyroid cancer. Thyroid. 2016;26:1–133. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bayer MF, Kriss JP. Immunoradiometric assay for serum thyroglobulin: semiquantitative measurement of thyroglobulin in antithyroglobulin-positive sera. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1979;49:557–564. - PubMed

MeSH terms