Intercellular adhesion molecule 1 is a sensitive and diagnostically useful immunohistochemical marker of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and of PTC-like nuclear alterations in Hashimoto's thyroiditis

• Published in: Oncology letters 2016-03, Vol.11 (3), p.1722-1730
• Main Authors: ZHANG, KE, GE, SHU-JIAN, LIN, XIAO-YAN, LV, BEI-BEI, CAO, ZHI-XIN, LI, JIA-MEI, XU, JIA-WEN, WANG, QIANG-XIU
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Analysis; Care and treatment; Complications and side effects; cytokeratin 19; Cytoplasm; Diagnosis; Experiments; galectin-3; Hashimoto's thyroiditis; Hector Battifora mesothelial-1; Immunoglobulins; Immunohistochemistry; intercellular adhesion molecule 1; Lymphatic system; Metastasis; Oncology; papillary thyroid cancer; Risk factors; Thyroid cancer; Thyroiditis; Tumors; Values; Variables
• ISSN: 1792-1074; 1792-1082
• DOI: 10.3892/ol.2016.4104

Intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) is important in the progression of inflammatory responses. Recently, increased levels of ICAM-1 have been reported in a number of types of malignancy. The present study aimed to investigate ICAM-1 expression in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and in Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) with PTC-like nuclear alterations, and to assess the predictive value of ICAM-1 in thyroid lesions. ICAM-1 expression was retrospectively investigated in 132 consecutive cases of PTC, 72 cases of HT, 10 of follicular cancer, 15 of follicular adenoma, 16 of nodular goiter and 8 samples of normal thyroid tissue using immunohistochemical analyses, and in 42 PTC patients using western blotting. ICAM-1 expression was not detected in normal follicular cells, follicular lesions (adenoma and cancer) and benign nodular hyperplasia, but was frequently overexpressed in PTC cells. ICAM-1 overexpression was associated with extra-thyroidal invasion and lymph node metastasis; no association was found with age, gender, tumor size, multifocality, pathological stage, recurrence or distant metastasis. ICAM-1 expression in HT patients with PTC-like nuclear alterations was significantly higher than that in HT cases with non-PTC-like features. Compared with antibodies against cytokeratin 19, galectin-3 and Hector Battifora mesothelial-1, ICAM-1 was the most sensitive marker for the detection of PTC-like features in HT. These findings demonstrate that ICAM-1 expression is upregulated in PTC and in HT with PTC-like nuclear alterations. This feature may be an important factor in the progression of cancer of the thyroid gland.