title: Nestin expression as an independent indicator of poor prognosis for patients with anaplastic thyroid cancer.
abstract: The protein nestin, a neuronal stem cell marker, has been reported to indicate a poor prognosis in various tumours. Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is one of the most aggressive malignancies in humans, and its molecular background has not been identified. The present study evaluated the expression of nestin and its significance in ATC. Tissue samples from 23 patients with ATC were subjected to immunohistochemical staining and the staining intensity of nestin in the cytoplasm was evaluated. The expression of nestin in the tumour cytoplasm was confirmed in 6 of the 23 tissue samples (26.1%). Between the nestin-positive group (n=6) and the nestin-negative group (n=17), there were no significant differences in the clinicopathological factors of the patients. However, the nestin-positive group exhibited significantly worse prognoses than the nestin-negative group (median survival time, 86.5 vs. 306 days; P<0.01, log-rank test). The multivariate analysis indicated that nestin expression was a prognostic indicator for the ATC patients (hazard ratio, 5.59; 95% confidence interval, 1.63-19.50; P<0.01), which is independent of the known clinical indicators. Nestin expression has the potential to be an independent indicator of a poor prognosis for patients with ATC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka 545-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Kento
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kurata
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka 545-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoyoshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Onoda
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka 545-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Noda
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka 545-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kashiwagi
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka 545-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Asano
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka 545-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Hidemi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kawajiri
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka 545-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takashima
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Pathology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka 545-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Sayaka
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Pathology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka 545-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ohsawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka 545-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Kosei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirakawa
keywords: anaplastic thyroid cancer; nestin; prognostic indicator; stem cell marker