Immunohistochemical Analysis of Bcl-2, Bax and Bak Expression in Thyroid Glands from Patients with Graves' Disease

In order to clarify the role of apoptosis and the expression of Bcl-2 family proteins in the pathology of Graves disease (GD), we evaluated the apoptosis by in situ end-labeling of fragmented DNA and the expression of Bcl-2, Bax and Bak by immunohistochemistry in thyroid tissues from 20 patients wit...

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Published in:ENDOCRINE JOURNAL 2004, Vol.51 (4), p.399-405
Main Authors: YUJI HIROMATSU, HIROO KAKU, TOKUNORI MUKAI, IKUYO MIYAKE, TOMOKA FUKUTANI, MARI KOGA, SHINGO SHOJI, SHUJI TODA, NORIMASA KOIKE
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Language:Japanese
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Summary:In order to clarify the role of apoptosis and the expression of Bcl-2 family proteins in the pathology of Graves disease (GD), we evaluated the apoptosis by in situ end-labeling of fragmented DNA and the expression of Bcl-2, Bax and Bak by immunohistochemistry in thyroid tissues from 20 patients with GD and in normal thyroid tissues from 6 patients with follicular adenoma (N). Apoptotic nuclei were found in thyrocytes and in germinal center of lymphoid follicles. Bcl-2 was strongly expressed in both GD and N thyrocytes. Bax was not expressed in either GD or N thyrocytes. Bak was expressed in thyrocytes from 5 of 20 patients with GD, while it was detected in all N thyrocytes. In lymphoid follicles Bcl-2 was expressed in the mantle zone, while Bax and Bak were both expressed in the germinal center. The percentage of apoptotic nuclei in GD thyrocytes was low (0-3.6%), and negatively correlated with the weight of the thyroid glands resected (rs = -0.43, P
ISSN:0918-8959