Sexual dimorphism in medullary thyroid cancer aggressiveness

Abstract

Thyroid cancer is the only nonreproductive cancer with striking female predominance, although men with thyroid cancer develop more aggressive disease. This study aimed to quantify sex-specific differences in medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) spread after controlling for primary thyroid tumor size. Included in this retrospective analysis were all patients with unilateral solitary MTC who underwent initial neck surgery at a tertiary referral center. A total of 565 patients, 255 men and 310 women, were identified, of whom 467 had sporadic and 98 hereditary MTC. When stratified by sex, and after correction for multiple testing, men had higher preoperative basal calcitonin levels (medians of 655 vs 181 pg/mL; P < 0.001), more frequent extrathyroid extension (25 vs 9%; P < 0.001) and node metastasis (53 vs 27%; P < 0.001) with more involved nodes (medians of 2 vs 0 nodes; P < 0.001) than women but achieved less often biochemical cure (53 vs 74%; P < 0.001). Although absent in patients with very small (≤5 mm) thyroid tumors, sex disparities were immediately apparent in patients with 5.1–40 mm (node metastasis and biochemical cure) and 10.1–40 mm (extrathyroid extension) large thyroid tumors but were lost in patients with thyroid tumors >40 mm as women caught up. Sex disparities were strongest for node metastasis with a 27–41% (overall 24.0%) point difference, followed by biochemical cure with a −15–35% (overall −20.3%) point difference and extrathyroid extension with a 17–24% (14.2% overall) point difference. These findings indicate that the male predominance in MTC aggressiveness is largely biologically driven, warranting further research.