Basolo F, Pollina L, Fontanini G, Fiore L, Pacini F, Baldanzi A
Institute of Pathology, University of Pisa, Italy.
Br J Cancer. 1997;75(4):537-41. doi: 10.1038/bjc.1997.93.
The aim of this study was to determine the apoptotic cell death in 92 thyroid carcinomas of different histotypes (42 papillary, PTC; 12 poorly differentiated, PDC: 21 undifferentiated, UC; and 17 medullary, MC) by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediated dUTP-digoxigenin nick end labelling (TUNEL). Apoptotic index (Al, evaluated as a percentage of TUNEL-positive cells of neoplastic cells) was calculated in each tumour. The AI was very low in all subtypes of thyroid carcinoma, ranging from a median value of 0.2 in PTC to 1.4 in UC. The proliferative activity was determined by immunohistochemistry using monoclonal antibody, MIB-1. The percentage of proliferating cells was significantly different among the histotypes, increasing with tumour aggressiveness (from the mean value of 3.1 for PTC to 5.6 for PDC and 51.8 for UC). In addition, the ratio between proliferative activity and apoptosis was significantly higher in UC than in the other histotypes. The expression of bcl-2 and p53 protein (important in the modulation of cell death) was correlated (bcl-2, inverse correlation, r2 = 0.1, P = 0.04; p53, direct correlation, r2 = 0.11, P = 0.02) with apoptotic index in PTC.
本研究旨在通过末端脱氧核苷酸转移酶（TdT）介导的dUTP-地高辛配基缺口末端标记法（TUNEL），确定92例不同组织学类型的甲状腺癌（42例乳头状癌，PTC；12例低分化癌，PDC；21例未分化癌，UC；17例髓样癌，MC）中的凋亡细胞死亡情况。计算每个肿瘤的凋亡指数（AI，以肿瘤细胞中TUNEL阳性细胞的百分比评估）。甲状腺癌所有亚型的AI都非常低，范围从PTC的中位数0.2到UC的1.4。使用单克隆抗体MIB-1通过免疫组织化学测定增殖活性。增殖细胞的百分比在不同组织学类型之间有显著差异，随肿瘤侵袭性增加（从PTC的平均值3.1到PDC的5.6以及UC的51.8）。此外，UC中增殖活性与凋亡的比率显著高于其他组织学类型。bcl-2和p53蛋白（在细胞死亡调节中起重要作用）的表达与PTC中的凋亡指数相关（bcl-2，负相关，r2 = 0.1，P = 0.04；p53，正相关，r2 = 0.11，P = 0.02）。
