The utility of galectin-3 and HBME-1 immunohistochemical expression in thyroid cancer in the Maltese population

Abstract

Diagnosing thyroid carcinoma is not always easy on basic haemtoxylin and eosin staining since nuclear features are inconsistent and controversial. In view of this, studies on the role of immunohistochemical markers in the diagnosis of malignant thyroid carcinoma are necessary. Proposed immunohistochemical markers for papillary thyroid cancer include Hector Battifora mesothelial-1 (HBME-1), and Galectin-3 (Gal-3) which have been studied in this project. Immunohistochemical staining of fifty-eight formalin-fixed paraffin embedded surgically removed thyroid tissue from the years 2008 and 2013 was undertaken to determine the diagnostic accuracy of these two markers. We have concluded that both Gal-3 and HBME-1 are useful markers to aid in the diagnosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma and also in distinguishing between benign and malignant thyroid lesions. The sensitivity and specificity of Gal-3 over the 2years studied was found to be 96.2% and 92.6%, respectively, whilst HBME-1 was found to have sensitivity of 93.6% and specificity of 69.02%.