Pollina L, Pacini F, Fontanini G, Vignati S, Bevilacqua G, Basolo F
Institute of Pathology, University of Pisa, Italy.
Br J Cancer. 1996 Jan;73(2):139-43. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1996.26.
Thyroid carcinomas are heterogeneous in terms of histology, clinical presentation, treatment response and prognosis. Since bcl-2 and p53 gene alterations are frequently involved in both lymphoid and epithelial malignancies, we analysed the expression of bcl-2, p53 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in a group of 134 patients with thyroid neoplasms. The same markers were evaluated in fetal and adult normal thyroids as well as in 40 benign lesions. The study was carried out by immunocytochemistry on archival material using antibodies against bcl-2 and p53 protein on tissue sections of 40 adenomas (As), 20 medullary carcinomas (MCs), 70 well-differentiated carcinomas (WDCs), 20 poorly differentiated carcinomas (PDCs) and 24 undifferentiated carcinomas (UCs). bcl-2 immunoreactivity was detected in 36 out of 40 (90%) As, 20 out of 20 (100%) MCs, 60 out of 70 (85.7%) WDCs, 20 out of 20 (100%) PDCs, and 8 out of 24 (33.3%) of UCs. p53 expression was present in 11.4% of WDCs, 5% of PDCs, 5% of MCs and 62.5% of UCs. By contrast, no p53 immunoreactivity was detected in 40 adenomas and in all the normal thyroid tissues studied. We observed a positive correlation between the expression of p53 and PCNA (r = 0.42; P = 0.035) in a group of UCs, but not in WDCs, PDCs and MCs. Neither p53 nor bcl-2 expression were correlated with clinicopathological parameters, such as age, sex, pTNM and survival. Our results suggest that in tumours of the follicular epithelium p53 and bcl-2 protein abnormalities are associated with more advanced carcinomas and especially with undifferentiated carcinomas, while they are only rarely altered in tumours of the parafollicular C cells.
甲状腺癌在组织学、临床表现、治疗反应和预后方面具有异质性。由于bcl-2和p53基因改变经常与淋巴样和上皮性恶性肿瘤相关，我们分析了134例甲状腺肿瘤患者中bcl-2、p53和增殖细胞核抗原（PCNA）的表达情况。在胎儿和成人正常甲状腺以及40例良性病变中对相同的标志物进行了评估。该研究通过免疫细胞化学方法，使用针对bcl-2和p53蛋白的抗体，对40例腺瘤（As）、20例髓样癌（MCs）、70例高分化癌（WDCs）、20例低分化癌（PDCs）和24例未分化癌（UCs）的组织切片进行存档材料分析。在40例As中的36例（90%）、20例MCs中的20例（100%）、70例WDCs中的60例（85.7%）、20例PDCs中的20例（100%）以及24例UCs中的8例（33.3%）检测到bcl-2免疫反应性。p53表达在WDCs的11.4%、PDCs的5%、MCs的5%以及UCs的62.5%中出现。相比之下，在40例腺瘤和所有研究的正常甲状腺组织中未检测到p53免疫反应性。我们在一组UCs中观察到p53和PCNA表达之间存在正相关（r = 0.42；P = 0.035），但在WDCs、PDCs和MCs中未观察到。p53和bcl-2表达均与年龄、性别、pTNM和生存等临床病理参数无关。我们的结果表明，在滤泡上皮肿瘤中，p53和bcl-2蛋白异常与更晚期的癌症尤其是未分化癌相关，而在滤泡旁C细胞肿瘤中它们很少发生改变。
