Papillary microcarcinoma of the thyroid gland: is the immunohistochemical expression of cyclin D1 or galectin-3 in primary tumour an indicator of metastatic disease?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Papillary microcarcinoma of the thyroid gland: is the immunohistochemical expression of cyclin D1 or galectin-3 in primary tumour an indicator of metastatic disease?

AU - Londero, Stefano Christian

AU - Godballe, Christian

AU - Krogdahl, Annelise

AU - Bastholt, Lars

AU - Specht, Lena

AU - Sørensen, Christian Hjort

AU - Pedersen, Henrik Baymler

AU - Pedersen, Ulrik

AU - Christiansen, Peer

N1 - Keywords: Adult; Carcinoma, Papillary; Cyclin D; Cyclins; Databases, Factual; Denmark; Female; Galectin 3; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Proteins; Thyroid Neoplasms; Tumor Markers, Biological

PY - 2007

Y1 - 2007

N2 - INTRODUCTION: Papillary microcarcinomas (PMC) of the thyroid gland are defined according to The WHO Committee as papillary carcinomas measuring 10 mm or less in diameter. A large proportion of these tumours are found coincidentally in the treatment of symptomatic goitre and most cases follow an indolent course with an excellent prognosis. However, a more aggressive behaviour with regional and distant metastases does occur. The aim of this study was to evaluate if the immunohistochemical markers cyclin D1 or galectin-3 might indicate the presence of metastatic disease in patients with PMC at the time of diagnosis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: From the 1(st) of January 1996 to 31(st) of December 2002 a total of 169 PMC patients were diagnosed and registered in the national Danish thyroid cancer database DATHYRCA and 131 of these were eligible for the study. Forty-three (33%) had histologically verified regional or distant metastases. Slides were cut from the primary tumour and immunostaining and quantification was subsequently performed. RESULTS: The percentage of positive cells was examined for patients with and without metastases. For cyclin D1 the median values were 31% (range: 0-59) and 21% (range: 0-75), respectively, showing a statistically significant difference (p=0.02). For galectin-3 the medians were 87% (range: 6-96) and 85% (range: 0-99) and no significant difference was found. CONCLUSION: Cyclin D1 showed significantly higher median expression in patients with metastases compared to those without, indicating a correlation to tumour aggressiveness. However, both groups showed large variation in expression, which disqualify the marker as a discriminator for the detection of metastases. Galectin-3 was without any significant correlation to the presence of metastases from PMC.

AB - INTRODUCTION: Papillary microcarcinomas (PMC) of the thyroid gland are defined according to The WHO Committee as papillary carcinomas measuring 10 mm or less in diameter. A large proportion of these tumours are found coincidentally in the treatment of symptomatic goitre and most cases follow an indolent course with an excellent prognosis. However, a more aggressive behaviour with regional and distant metastases does occur. The aim of this study was to evaluate if the immunohistochemical markers cyclin D1 or galectin-3 might indicate the presence of metastatic disease in patients with PMC at the time of diagnosis. MATERIAL AND METHODS: From the 1(st) of January 1996 to 31(st) of December 2002 a total of 169 PMC patients were diagnosed and registered in the national Danish thyroid cancer database DATHYRCA and 131 of these were eligible for the study. Forty-three (33%) had histologically verified regional or distant metastases. Slides were cut from the primary tumour and immunostaining and quantification was subsequently performed. RESULTS: The percentage of positive cells was examined for patients with and without metastases. For cyclin D1 the median values were 31% (range: 0-59) and 21% (range: 0-75), respectively, showing a statistically significant difference (p=0.02). For galectin-3 the medians were 87% (range: 6-96) and 85% (range: 0-99) and no significant difference was found. CONCLUSION: Cyclin D1 showed significantly higher median expression in patients with metastases compared to those without, indicating a correlation to tumour aggressiveness. However, both groups showed large variation in expression, which disqualify the marker as a discriminator for the detection of metastases. Galectin-3 was without any significant correlation to the presence of metastases from PMC.

U2 - 10.1080/02841860701630242

DO - 10.1080/02841860701630242

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 17906980

SN - 1100-1704

VL - 47

SP - 451

EP - 457

JO - Acta Oncologica, Supplement

JF - Acta Oncologica, Supplement

IS - 3

ER -