Identification of serum biomarker panel to differentiate malignant from benign thyroid nodules using multiplex bead assay

Journal of the Egyptian National Cancer Institute

Table 3 Comparison of serum marker levels between the studied groups

	Control (n = 20)	BTN (n = 20)	MTN (n = 20)	H	p
IL-8 (pg/ml)
Min.–Max.	3.16–55.0	3.53–16.70	6.72–2059.3	16.364	<0.001^*
Median	9.01	8.75	29.69	16.364	<0.001^*
Median	p₁ = 0.619, p₂ = 0.001^, p₃ < 0.001^, p₄ < 0.001^*
EGF (pg/ml)
Min.–Max.	1.24–362.7	1.35–498.9	2.14–845.6	13.975	0.001^*
Median	12.64	6.72	128.7	13.975	0.001^*
Median	p₁ = 0.356, p₂ = 0.007^, p₃ < 0.001^, p₄ < 0.01^*
HGF (pg/ml)
Min.–Max.	19.36–385.2	32.40–304.0	64.95–434.8	12.931	0.002^*
Median	98.05	112.20	173.2	12.931	0.002^*
Median	p₁ = 0.337, p₂ < 0.001^, p₃ = 0.012^, p₄ = 0.024*
MIG (pg/ml)
Min.–Max.	99.80–980.0	286.0–1003.0	287.0–6509.0	11.090	0.004^*
Median	340.4	438.0	776.7	11.090	0.004^*
Median	p₁ = 0.322, p₂ = 0.001^, p₃ = 0.023^, p₄ = 0.038*
Ang-1 (pg/ml)
Min.–Max.	1788–165431	1788.0–196895	11559–298458	6.060	0.049^*
Median	81248.0	33327.5	95016.0	6.060	0.049^*
Median	p₁ = 0.248, p₂ = 0.192, p₃ = 0.014^*
IL-5 (pg/ml)
Min.–Max.	0.30–1.30	0.07–1.95	0.14–13.51	4.558	0.102
Median	0.68	0.68	1.24
Gal-3 (pg/ml)
Min.–Max.	4192.0–19988.0	4263.0 16167.0	3759.0–17680.0	0.545	0.761
Median	8146.0	8362.0	8836.0	0.545	0.761
VDBP (ng/ml)
Min.–Max.	4854.0–49331.0	16826 73693	19770 69758	0.903	0.637
Median	30334.5	32496.5	29355.5	0.903	0.637

IL interleukin, EGF epidermal growth factor, HGF hepatocyte growth factor, MIG monokine induced by interferon gamma, Ang-1 angiopoietin-1, Gal-3 galectin-3, VDBP vitamin D-binding protein, BTN benign thyroid nodule, MTN malignant thyroid nodule
H, p: H and p values for Kruskal-Wallis test, significance between groups (Sig. bet. gps) was done using post hoc test (Dunn’s multiple comparisons test)
p₁: p value for comparing between control and BTN
p₂: p value for comparing between control and MTN
p₃: p value for comparing between BTN and MTN
p₄: p value for comparing between BTN and MTN using multivariate analysis
*: Statistically significant at p ≤ 0.05