Galectin-3 Expression in Tumor Progression and Metastasis of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma
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Galectin-3 Expression in Tumor Progression and Metastasis of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma Hüseyin K. Türköz & Hülya Öksüz & Ziya Yurdakul & Deniz Özcan
Published online: 26 June 2008 # Humana Press Inc. 2008
Abstract Galectin-3 plays important roles in cell adhesion, cell proliferation, apoptosis, neoplastic transformation, and metastasis. Galectin-3 expression has been evaluated in various malignant neoplasms to determine its effectiveness in differential diagnosis from benign lesions and its effects on carcinogenesis. There are few and somewhat controversial results regarding its changes through cancer progression in thyroid malignancies. We studied the presence of galectin-3 expression immunohistochemically and its relation with tumor invasiveness and lymph node metastasis in 89 cases of papillary carcinoma of the thyroid. Galectin overexpression was less frequent in cases with lymph node metastases compared with cases without lymph node metastasis (P=0.001). Metastatic foci in lymph nodes showed a lower degree of galectin-3 overexpression than their primary lesions (P=0.001). Degree of galectin-3 overexpression was also lower in larger tumors (P= 0.009). Additionally, a decreased level of galectin-3 overexpression was observed at the invasive edges of the tumors (P=0.001). Galectin-3 overexpression is more profound in early stages of papillary carcinoma, and its expression intensity decreases during tumor progression. This finding is consistent with roles for galectin-3 in cell adhesion to other tumor cells and the matrix.
H. Öksüz : Z. Yurdakul : D. Özcan Department of Pathology, Okmeydani Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey H. K. Türköz (*) Okmeydani Egitim ve Arastirma Hastanesi, Patoloji Servisi, Darulaceze caddesi, Sisli, Istanbul 34384, Turkey e-mail: [email protected]
Keywords galectin-3 . thyroid . papillary carcinoma . diagnosis . neoplasm metastasis
Introduction The differential diagnosis between malignant and benign lesions of the thyroid gland has always been a problematic issue. Morphologic similarities of benign and malignant lesions and subjectivity of morphologic criteria used in differential diagnosis has led surgical pathologists to search for additional diagnostic markers. More objective methods, including immunohistochemical markers, have been investigated to solve this problem. One of these markers is galectin-3, a 31-kDa carbohydrate-binding lectin. Galectins are localized on the cell surface, in the cytoplasm and nucleus [1], or within the extracellular matrix [2]. Galectin-3 plays specific roles in cell adhesion, cell proliferation, apoptosis, neoplastic transformation, and metastasis [3–6]. Previous studies show that galectin-3 plays important roles in tumor progression, and alterations in galectin-3 expression level have been reported during tumorigenesis in different organs [7]. Although the results are controversial, it seems that down-regulation of galectin3 may have an association with tumor progression (i.e., increasing histologic grade or metastatic potential)
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