What is New on Thyroid Cancer Biomarkers

• Published in: Biomarker insights 2008, Vol.2008 (3), p.BMI.S669
• Main Authors: Ruggeri, Rosaria M., Campennì, Alfredo, Baldari, Sergio, Trimarchi, Francesco, Trovato, Maria
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1177-2719; 1177-2719
• DOI: 10.4137/BMI.S669

Rosaria M. Ruggeri1, Alfredo Campennì2, Sergio Baldari2, Francesco Trimarchi1 and Maria Trovato1,3 1Sezione di Endocrinologia, Dipartimento Clinico-Sperimentale di Medicina e Farmacologia. 2U.O. di Medicina Nucleare, Dipartimento di Scienze Radiologiche. 3Dipartimento di Patologia Umana, University of Messina, Policlinico Universitario, "G. Martino", Messina, Italy. Abstract Thyroid cancer harbours in about 5% of thyroid nodules. The majority of them are well-differentiated cancers originating from the follicular epithelium, and are subdivided into papillary and follicular carcinomas. Undifferentiated carcinomas and medullary thyroid carcinomas arising from C cells are less common. Although most thyroid nodules are benign, distinguishing thyroid cancer from benign lesions is crucial for an appropriate treatment and follow-up. The fi ne needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) allows the diagnosis of nature of thyroid nodules in the majority of cases. However, FNAC has some limitations, particularly in the presence of follicular lesions which can appear dubious in rare instances even at histology. In an effort to improve diagnostic accuracy and offer new prognostic criteria, several immunohistochemical and molecular markers have been proposed. However, most of them have to be validated on large series before being used in routine practice.