Study on cathepsin B activity in human thyroid tumors.
Cathepsin B activity was measured in human thyroid tissue obtained surgically from 2 patients with Grave's disease, 3 with follicular adenoma, 4 with papillary carcinoma, and 4 with follicular carcinoma. Three normal thyroid tissues were also studied. Comparisons were made between cathepsin B activity and clinical findings, including histopathological diagnosis and the presence or absence of extra-capsular invasion and metastasis. The abilities of original tumors to degrade type I and type IV collagen were also measured. Mean cathepsin B activities of both specimens with benign and those with malignant disease were significantly higher than those of normal thyroid. On cases of thyroid carcinoma, those with extra-capsular invasions and metastasis had the highest cathepsin B activities. Cases with high cathepsin B activities also tended to show high type I and IV collagen degrading abilities. These findings suggest that cathepsin B plays a role in the development of extra-capsular invasion and lymph node metastasis in human thyroid tumors.
Kusunoki
T
T
Department of Otolaryngology, Kinki University School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.
Nishida
S
S
Nakano
T
T
Funasaka
K
K
Kimoto
S
S
Murata
K
K
Tomura
T
T
D018263:Adenocarcinoma, Follicular / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D000236:Adenoma / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D002401:Cathepsin B / Q000378:metabolism*; D003094:Collagen / Q000378:metabolism; D017364:Collagenases / Q000378:metabolism; D006111:Graves Disease / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D011379:Prognosis; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology*
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D003094:Collagen; D002401:Cathepsin B; D017364:Collagenases