title: Intercellular adhesion molecule 1 is a sensitive and diagnostically useful immunohistochemical marker of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and of PTC-like nuclear alterations in Hashimoto's thyroiditis.
abstract: Intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) is important in the progression of inflammatory responses. Recently, increased levels of ICAM-1 have been reported in a number of types of malignancy. The present study aimed to investigate ICAM-1 expression in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and in Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) with PTC-like nuclear alterations, and to assess the predictive value of ICAM-1 in thyroid lesions. ICAM-1 expression was retrospectively investigated in 132 consecutive cases of PTC, 72 cases of HT, 10 of follicular cancer, 15 of follicular adenoma, 16 of nodular goiter and 8 samples of normal thyroid tissue using immunohistochemical analyses, and in 42 PTC patients using western blotting. ICAM-1 expression was not detected in normal follicular cells, follicular lesions (adenoma and cancer) and benign nodular hyperplasia, but was frequently overexpressed in PTC cells. ICAM-1 overexpression was associated with extra-thyroidal invasion and lymph node metastasis; no association was found with age, gender, tumor size, multifocality, pathological stage, recurrence or distant metastasis. ICAM-1 expression in HT patients with PTC-like nuclear alterations was significantly higher than that in HT cases with non-PTC-like features. Compared with antibodies against cytokeratin 19, galectin-3 and Hector Battifora mesothelial-1, ICAM-1 was the most sensitive marker for the detection of PTC-like features in HT. These findings demonstrate that ICAM-1 expression is upregulated in PTC and in HT with PTC-like nuclear alterations. This feature may be an important factor in the progression of cancer of the thyroid gland.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250021, P.R. China.
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Science and Education, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250021, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shu-Jian
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250021, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Yan
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250021, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Bei-Bei
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250021, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Xin
authors.initials: ZX
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250021, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jia-Mei
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250021, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jia-Wen
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250021, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Qiang-Xiu
authors.initials: QX
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: Hashimoto's thyroiditis; Hector Battifora mesothelial-1; cytokeratin 19; galectin-3; intercellular adhesion molecule 1; papillary thyroid cancer