title: Fibrillin expression and localization in various types of carcinomas of the thyroid gland.
abstract: Fibrillin is an extracellular matrix (ECM) glycoprotein, a main component of microfibrills, suggested to support cell attachment and to impact cell differentiation and migration. The aim of this study was to investigate fibrillin-1 expression in thyroid carcinomas at mRNA and protein level, since ECM proteins are suggested to be of great importance for the metastatic potential of carcinomas. RNA was extracted from 13 thyroid carcinoma cell lines and RT-PCR analysis with gene-specific primers revealed fibrillin-1 mRNA expression in all cell lines, with highest expression in the follicular carcinoma cell line WRO and lowest expression in the two anaplastic cell lines (APO, FRO). Furthermore, we investigated fibrillin-1 expression by immumohistochemistry in a commercially available tissue microarray including 50 thyroid carcinomas as well as in archival tissue from 33 thyroid carcinomas. Fibrillin-1 demonstrated a cytoplasmic location in the neoplastic cells of almost all carcinomas apart from the follicular ones. The most intense staining was observed in papillary carcinomas with some evidence of a slight increased intensity in advanced stages. Our data indicate that fibrillin-1 is strongly expressed by the neoplastic cells of thyroid carcinomas in different degree in the various histologic types and might be implicated in cell-stroma interaction in terms of signaling, attachment and migration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Medical School University of Athens, Athens, Greece. stseleni@cc.uoa.gr
authors.forename: Sofia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tseleni-Balafouta
authors.forename: Hariklia
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gakiopoulou
authors.forename: Galinos
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fanourakis
authors.forename: Gerassimos
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Voutsinas
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Litsiou
authors.forename: Elias
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sozopoulos
authors.forename: Dimitrios
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Balafoutas
authors.forename: Efstratios
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Patsouris
mesh_terms: D018263:Adenocarcinoma, Follicular / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018276:Carcinoma, Medullary / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D005260:Female; D000071838:Fibrillin-1; D000071837:Fibrillins; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008840:Microfilament Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D054392:Adipokines
chemical_list: D000071838:Fibrillin-1; D000071837:Fibrillins; D008840:Microfilament Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C000605722:FBN1 protein, human; D054392:Adipokines