title: Immunostaining of galectin-3 and CD44v6 using fine-needle aspiration for distinguishing follicular carcinoma from adenoma.
abstract: To evaluate the clinical applicability of galectin-3 and CD44 variant 6 (CD44v6) immunostaining in fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of thyroid follicular tumors, 79 cytological specimens (35 follicular carcinomas and 44 follicular adenomas) were studied. The positive rates of galectin-3 and CD44v6 were 89 and 74% in follicular carcinoma, respectively, and 25 and 30% in follicular adenoma, respectively. There were no significant correlations between the expression of galectin-3 or CD44v6 in follicular carcinoma and characteristics such as capsular invasion, vascular invasion, metastasis, or tumor size. Positive staining of either galectin-3 or CD44v6 resulted in a diagnostic sensitivity of 97% and a specificity of 52% for follicular carcinoma among follicular tumors. Immunostaining of galectin-3 or CD44v6 using cytological specimens can provide independent information on conventional morphological findings of cytology to distinguish follicular carcinoma from adenoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Noguchi Thyroid Clinical and Hospital Foundation, Beppu, Japan. junko@noguchi-med.or.jp
authors.forename: Junko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Maruta
authors.forename: Hironobu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: Hiroto
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.forename: Shiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Noguchi
mesh_terms: D000236:Adenoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D000328:Adult; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle; D018265:Carcinoma, Papillary, Follicular / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D037502:Galectin 3 / Q000378:metabolism*; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C112697:CD44v6 antigen; D037502:Galectin 3; D006023:Glycoproteins; D018960:Hyaluronan Receptors