Fibroblast growth factor receptor-2 expression in thyroid tumor progression: potential diagnostic application.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 23977259.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0072224 and PMC identifier 3747152.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Fibroblast growth factor receptor-2 (FGFR-2) plays an important role in tumorigenesis. In thyroid cancer it has been observed a FGFR-2 down-modulation, but the role of this receptor has not been yet clarified. Therefore, we decided to examine the expression of both FGFR-2 isoform, FGFR-2-IIIb and FGFR-2-IIIc, in different histological thyroid variants such as hyperplasia, follicular adenoma and papillary carcinoma. Immunohistochemistry and quantitative Real-Time PCR analyses were performed on samples of hyperplasia, follicular adenoma and papillary carcinoma, compared with normal thyroid tissue. Thyroid hyperplasia did not show statistically significant reduction in FGFR-2 protein and mRNA levels. Interestingly, in both follicular adenoma and papillary carcinoma samples we observed a strongly reduced expression of both FGFR-2 isoforms. We speculate that FGFR-2 down-modulation might be an early event in thyroid carcinogenesis. Furthermore, we suggest the potential use of FGFR-2 as an early marker for thyroid cancer diagnosis.
Medical subject headings
- Adenoma
- Biomarkers, Tumor
- Carcinoma, Papillary
- Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
- RNA, Messenger
- Receptor, Fibroblast Growth Factor, Type 2
- Thyroid Neoplasms