1999 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

mRNA expression of TSH-receptor, calcitonin and thyroglobulin in medullary carcinoma of the thyroid ; A study of histogenesis of mixed medullary-follicular carcinoma of the thyroid

Research Project

Project/Area Number	10670156
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Human pathology
Research Institution	Kanazawa University
Principal Investigator	MIZUKAMI Yuji Kanazawa University Faculty of Medicine, Professor, 医学部, 教授 (60110540)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	MICHIGISHI Takatoshi Kanazawa University Faculty of Medicine, Associate Professor, 医学部, 助教授 (60020012)
Project Period (FY)	1998 – 1999
Keywords	mixed medullary-follicular carcinoma / thyroid / histogenesis / calcitonin mRNA / thyroglobulin mRNA / in situ hybridization / northern blot / immunohistochemistry
Research Abstract	We studied to clarify the histogenesis of mixed medullary-follicular carcinoma of the thyroid using methods of clinicopathology, immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization and northern blot. The results are as follows : 1). Clinicopathologically, mixed medullary-follicular carcinomas are more frequently occurs compared with usual medullary carcinoma : in male patients (6 : 1 vs 1 : 1), in younger patients (36yrs vs 44yrs) and with better prognosis (100% vs 78% in 5-year survival). 2). We failed to detection of calcitonin and thyroglobulin mRNA using northern blot, probably due to error of extraction of mRNA from thyroid tissues. 3). Using in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, mRNA and protein of calcitonin or thyroglobulin are detected in mixed medullary-follicular carcinoma. 4). We initially expected that mRNA or protein of calcitonin and thyroglobulin are concomitantly express in tumor cells of mixed medullary-follicular carcinoma. However, in the present study, such a concomitant expression of calcitonin and thyroglobulin in the same tumor cell was not observed. 5). The concomitant expression of calcitonin and thyroglobulin was not observed in usual medullary carcinomas and other types of thyroid cancers. We will continue intensively the research for clarification of histogenesis of medullary-follicular carcinoma of thyroid.