Anaplastic carcinoma of the thyroid (undifferentiated carcinoma)
Immunohistochemistry
|
cytokeratin
|
50%
|
|
EMA
|
33-55%
|
|
vimentin
|
50-100%
|
|
thyroglobulin
|
almost always negative (0/42)
|
|
CEA
|
squamous component may be positive
|
|
TTF-1
|
2/351, 1/42
|
|
CK7
|
24/351, 0/42
|
|
CK19
|
1/1,
21/37(12 of 13 squamoid, 7 of 7 giant cell / solid epithelioid, 2 of 7 spindle cell)3, 4/44
|
|
CK20
|
0/42
|
|
Galectin-3
|
0/1, 10/105,
5/5(but weaker than in the papillary carcinomas)6, 3/47,
5/5(but weaker than in the papillary or follicular carcinomas)8
|
|
factor VIII RA
|
may be focally positive
|
|
bcl-2
|
14%
|
bcl-2 is less often positive in anaplastic carcinoma than in insular carcinoma.
References
Diagnostic histopathology of tumors. Edited by CDM Fletcher. 2nd edition. Churchill Livingstone. Page 996.
1Miettinen, M. and Franssila, K.O. Variable expression of keratins and nearly uniform lack of thyroid transcription factor 1 in thyroid anaplastic carcinoma. Hum Pathol 2000;31:1139-45.
2Bejarano, P.A., Nikiforov, Y.E., Swenson, E.S. and Biddinger, P.W. Thyroid transcription factor-1, thyroglobulin, cytokeratin 7, and cytokeratin 20 in thyroid neoplasms. Appl Immunohistochem Mol Morphol 2000;8:189-94.
3Miettinen, M. and Franssila, K.O. Variable expression of keratins and nearly uniform lack of thyroid transcription factor 1 in thyroid anaplastic carcinoma. Hum Pathol 2000;31:1139-45.
4Lam, K.Y., Lo, C.Y. and Liu, M.C. Primary squamous cell carcinoma of the thyroid gland: an entity with aggressive clinical behaviour and distinctive cytokeratin expression profiles. Histopathology 2001;39:279-86.
5Cvejic, D., Savin, S., Paunovic, I., Tatic, S., Havelka, M. and Sinadinovic, J. Immunohistochemical localization of galectin-3 in malignant and benign human thyroid tissue. Anticancer Res 1998;18:2637-41.
6Fernandez, P.L., Merino, M.J., Gomez, M., Campo, E., Medina, T., Castronovo, V., Sanjuan, X., Cardesa, A., Liu, F.T. and Sobel, M.E. Galectin-3 and laminin expression in neoplastic and non-neoplastic thyroid tissue. J Pathol 1997;181:80-6.
7Gasbarri, A., Martegani, M.P., Del Prete, F., Lucante, T., Natali, P.G. and Bartolazzi, A. Galectin-3 and CD44v6 isoforms in the preoperative evaluation of thyroid nodules. J Clin Oncol 1999;17:3494-502.
8Inohara, H., Honjo, Y., Yoshii, T., Akahani, S., Yoshida, J., Hattori, K., Okamoto, S., Sawada, T., Raz, A. and Kubo, T. Expression of galectin-3 in fine-needle aspirates as a diagnostic marker differentiating benign from malignant thyroid neoplasms. Cancer 1999;85:2475-84.
This page last revised 20.3.2003.
©SMUHT/PW Bishop