Gasbarri A, Martegani M P, Del Prete F, Lucante T, Natali P G, Bartolazzi A
Department of Pathology and Immunology, National Cancer Institute Regina Elena, Rome, Italy.
J Clin Oncol. 1999 Nov;17(11):3494-502. doi: 10.1200/JCO.1999.17.11.3494.
Thyroid cancer is the most frequently occurring endocrine malignancy; however, preoperative diagnosis of some lesions, in particular those with follicular histology, is difficult, and a consistent number of not otherwise-specified "follicular nodules" are surgically resected more for diagnosis than therapeutic purposes. In this study, we investigated whether the lectin-related molecules CD44v6 and galectin-3, the expression of which is altered during deregulated cell growth and malignant transformation, could be potential markers for improving the diagnostic accuracy of conventional cytology.
A comparative immuno-chemical and molecular analysis was performed on 157 thyroid specimens representative of normal, benign, and malignant tissues, and on 36 cytologic samples obtained preoperatively by fine-needle aspiration biopsy from nonselected patients with palpable thyroid nodules.
Normal thyrocytes did not express galectin-3 nor CD44v6. Although the expression of CD44v6 isnegligible in thyroiditis, these molecules are variably detected in benign and malignant proliferative lesions. Interestingly, galectin-3 is never expressed in benign lesions, but it is invariably detected in cancers. A comparative evaluation of CD44v6 and galectin-3 expression in thyroid malignancies demonstrated that these molecules are coexpressed at the messenger RNA and protein level in almost all lesions.
Our findings suggest that CD44v6 and galectin-3 could be potential markers to preoperatively identify malignant transformed thyrocytes. Immunodetection of these molecules on cytologic specimens obtained by fine-needle aspiration biopsy is an accurate and improved method for selecting, on a molecular basis, those nodular lesions of the thyroid gland that need to be surgically resected.
甲状腺癌是最常见的内分泌恶性肿瘤；然而，一些病变的术前诊断，尤其是那些具有滤泡组织学特征的病变，很困难，并且有相当数量的未另作特殊说明的“滤泡结节”被手术切除更多是为了诊断而非治疗目的。在本研究中，我们调查了凝集素相关分子CD44v6和半乳糖凝集素-3，其表达在细胞生长失控和恶性转化过程中会发生改变，是否可能成为提高传统细胞学诊断准确性的潜在标志物。
对157份代表正常、良性和恶性组织的甲状腺标本，以及对36份术前通过细针穿刺活检从未经选择的有可触及甲状腺结节的患者获取的细胞学样本进行了免疫化学和分子分析比较。
正常甲状腺细胞不表达半乳糖凝集素-3和CD44v6。虽然CD44v6在甲状腺炎中的表达可忽略不计，但这些分子在良性和恶性增殖性病变中可不同程度地检测到。有趣的是，半乳糖凝集素-3在良性病变中从不表达，但在癌症中总是能检测到。对甲状腺恶性肿瘤中CD44v6和半乳糖凝集素-3表达的比较评估表明，这些分子在几乎所有病变的信使核糖核酸和蛋白质水平上共表达。
我们的研究结果表明，CD44v6和半乳糖凝集素-3可能是术前识别恶性转化甲状腺细胞的潜在标志物。在通过细针穿刺活检获得的细胞学标本上对这些分子进行免疫检测是一种基于分子基础准确且改进的方法，用于选择那些需要手术切除的甲状腺结节性病变。
