Sanii Sanaz, Saffar Hiva, Tabriz Hedieh M, Qorbani Mostafa, Haghpanah Vahid, Tavangar Seyed M
Department of Pathology, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2012;13(5):2175-8. doi: 10.7314/apjcp.2012.13.5.2175.
Definite diagnosis of follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC) is based on the presence of capsular or vascular invasion. To date, no reliable and practical method has been introduced to discriminate this malignant neoplasm from follicular thyroid adenoma (FTA) in fine needle aspiration biopsy material. Matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), by degrading extracellular matrix, and caspase-3, by induction of apoptosis, have been shown to play important roles in carcinogenesis and aggressive behavior in many tumor types. The aim of this study was to examine expression of MMP-2 and caspase-3 in thyroid follicular neoplasms and to determine their usefulness for differential diagnosis.
Sixty FTAs and 41 FTCs were analysed immunohistochemically for MMP-2 and caspase-3.
MMP-2 was positive in 4 FTCs (9.8%), but in none of FTAs, with statistical significance (p=0.025). Caspase-3 was positive in 30 (50%) of FTAs and in 27 (65.9%) of FTCs.
Our results show MMP-2 expression only in FTCs and suggest that this protein may be a useful marker to confirm diagnosis of FTC versus FTA with 100% specificity and 100% predictive value of a positive test. We failed to show any differential diagnostic value for caspase-3 in thyroid follicular neoplasms.
滤泡性甲状腺癌（FTC）的明确诊断基于包膜或血管侵犯的存在。迄今为止，尚未引入可靠且实用的方法来在细针穿刺活检材料中鉴别这种恶性肿瘤与滤泡性甲状腺腺瘤（FTA）。基质金属蛋白酶-2（MMP-2）通过降解细胞外基质，以及半胱天冬酶-3通过诱导细胞凋亡，已被证明在许多肿瘤类型的致癌作用和侵袭性行为中发挥重要作用。本研究的目的是检测MMP-2和半胱天冬酶-3在甲状腺滤泡性肿瘤中的表达，并确定它们在鉴别诊断中的效用。
对60例FTA和41例FTC进行MMP-2和半胱天冬酶-3的免疫组织化学分析。
MMP-2在4例FTC中呈阳性（9.8%），但在FTA中均为阴性，具有统计学意义（p=0.025）。半胱天冬酶-3在30例（50%）FTA和27例（65.9%）FTC中呈阳性。
我们的结果显示MMP-2仅在FTC中表达，提示该蛋白可能是一种有用的标志物，对FTC与FTA的诊断具有100%的特异性和100%的阳性试验预测价值。我们未能显示半胱天冬酶-3在甲状腺滤泡性肿瘤中的任何鉴别诊断价值。
