Medullary carcinoma of the thyroid gland: an immunocytochemical study.

Twenty-seven cases of medullary carcinoma of the thyroid gland (MCT) were studied by light microscopy, immunocytochemistry, and electron microscopy. Immunoreactivity for neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and calcitonin was present in all tumors. The numbers of peptides and serotonin demonstrated in each case varied from one to eight. Bombesin was present in 18 of the 27 cases, serotonin in 15, leu-enkephalin in 8, somatostatin in 8, gastrin in 3, substance P in 1, vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) in 1, and ACTH in 1. Insulin and glucagon were not encountered in any of the tumors. Immunoreactivity for thyroglobulin was seen in five primary tumors as well as in one lymph node metastasis. The finding of concurrent production of calcitonin and thyroglobulin within the same tumor is enough to question the dogma of the separate origin of follicular cells and C-cells. We were unable to attach any clinical importance to the production of multiple peptides and/or amines.