Abstract

BACKGROUND
The expressions of galectin-3, cytokeratin 19, p53, and Ki-67 in papillary carcinoma (PC), follicular carcinoma (FC), follicular adenoma (FA), and nodular hyperplasia (NH) are characteristic for the differential diagnosis between benign and malignant thyroid tumors.
METHODS
The expressions of the four markers were evaluated in PC (n=37), FC (n=12), FA (n=22), and NH (n=23) by immunohistochemical staining.
RESULTS
Statistical analyses revealed that galectin-3 was significantly expressed in the malignant tumor cells of PC and FC, while CK19 was expressed only in PC.
CONCLUSION
These results show that galectin-3 is useful in differential diagnosis between malignant and benign thyroid lesions, especially between FC and FA in the patients over 20 years old, and indicate that CK19 is valuable in differentiating between follicular variant of PC and FC and between PC and papillary area of nodular hyperplasia.

• Keywords: Galectin-3;Cytokeratin 19;Thyroid gland;