Minichromosome maintenance protein 3 is a candidate proliferation marker in papillary thyroid carcinoma.
The proliferative capacity of tumor cells is a characteristic feature in the whole growing tumors. Many pathologists and clinicians have used the estimation of cell proliferation for prognostic information. Minichromosome maintenance protein 3 (MCM3) is known to have a role on the initiation and regulation of DNA replication during cell cycle. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential applicability of one of the MCM proteins, MCM3, as a proliferation marker in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) with correlation to clinicopathological parameters. We performed the immunohistochemical analysis for MCM3 and Ki-67 in 60 cases of PTC and Western blot analysis for MCM3 expression in 6 PTCs and normal thyroid tissues. The comparison of MCM3 labeling index (LI) to tumor size (P=0.031) and extrathyroidal extension (P=0.037) was statistically significant while that of Ki-67 LI to them was not. Moreover, a significant association was not observed between MCM3 and Ki-67, but the MCM3 LI was considerably higher. Western blot analyses revealed that the MCM3 protein expression levels were overexpressed in all PTCs. On the contrary, the levels of MCM3 were very low or absent in all normal thyroid tissues. Our results indicate that MCM3 may be a more reliable proliferation marker than Ki-67 in accessing the growth of tumor and evaluating tumor aggressiveness of PTC.
Lee
Youn Soo
YS
Department of Hospital Pathology, Research Institute of Medical Science, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
Ha
Seon-Ah
SA
Kim
Hae Joo
HJ
Shin
Seung Min
SM
Kim
Hyun Kee
HK
Kim
Sanghee
S
Kang
Chang Suk
CS
Lee
Kyo Young
KY
Hong
Oak Kee
OK
Lee
Seung-Hwan
SH
Kwon
Hyuk-Sang
HS
Cha
Bong-Yun
BY
Kim
Jin Woo
JW
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D018265:Carcinoma, Papillary, Follicular / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D064126:Minichromosome Maintenance Complex Component 3; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; C066470:MCM3 protein, human; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D064126:Minichromosome Maintenance Complex Component 3