Abstract
Background. Galectin-3 has been suggested to involve in invasion and aggressive behaviour of several cancer. The aim of this study is to evaluate the immunoreactivity of Galectin-3 in follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC) in an attempt to investigate its association with clinicopathology of FTC.
Method. This study included 46 selected paraffin embedded tissue blocks from surgically resected follicular thyroid carcinoma minimally invasive, consists of 23 cases of FTC capsular invasion only and 23 cases of FTC encapsulated angioinvasive. Immunohistochemistry staining for Galectin-3 were performed on all cases. Galectin-3 protein expression was observed in the cytoplasm and the nucleus of examined tissues.
Result. Forty-three (93.5%) samples had strong or moderate staining and 3 (6.5%) tumours had negative or weak staining. Positive immunoreactivity of Galectin-3 was found in 18/23 (78.3%) cases of FTC capsular invasion only and 20/23 (86.9%) cases of FTC encapsulated angioinvasive. The galectin-3 did not show association with the sex (p=0.345), age (p=0.200), and tumour size (p=0.767). There was no significant difference of Galectin-3 immunohistochemical expression between FTC capsular invasion only and FTC encapsulated angioinvasive (p= 0.699).
Conclusion. No differentiation of sex, age, tumour size, and immunohistochemical expression of galectin-3 in capsular invasion only and encapsulated angioinvasive of minimally invasive FTC.
Importance of Number of Foci of Capsular Invasion in Follicular Thyroid Carcinoma
