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Real-time RT-PCR analysis of galectin-3 expression in fine-needle aspirates of thyroid papillary carcinoma and thyroid non-neoplastic lesions

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate galectin-3 as a potential marker for preoperative diagnosis of malignant thyroid lesions. For that purpose galectin-3 expression in fine-needle aspiration (FNA) samples was analyzed by real-time RT-PCR and compared between thyroid papillary carcinoma and thyroid non-neoplastic lesions. Material and methods: Real-time RT-PCR analysis of galectin-3 expression was performed on RNA isolated from aspirates obtained by ultrasound guided FNA from 105 patients with papillary carcinoma, Hashimoto thyroiditis and nodular goiter. Galectin-3 expression was quantified by ΔΔCt method using pooled FNA samples from normal thyroid tissue as calibrator. Results of real-time RT-PCR analysis were evaluated against the definitive FNA diagnosis. Results: With a cut-off value of 0.97 determined by ROC curve analysis 26 out of 27 (96%) papillary carcinoma, 9 out of 31 (29%) Hashimoto thyroiditis and 32 out of 47 (68%) nodular goiter samples were positive for galectin-3 expression. Galectin-3 expression has shown accuracy of 60.0%, sensitivity of 96.3% and specificity of 47.4% in discriminating between samples with papillary carcinoma and non-neoplastic thyroid lesions. Proportion of galectin-3 positive samples was significantly higher in samples with papillary carcinoma compared to samples with non-neoplastic lesions (p<0.0001, Fisher’s exact test). Conclusions: Real-time RT-PCR analysis of galectin-3 expression in FNA samples has shown high sensitivity, but relatively low specificity in discriminating between papillary thyroid carcinoma and non-neoplastic lesions. Therefore, its potential value as a marker for preoperative diagnosis of malignant thyroid lesions is limited.

thyroid cancer; real-time RT-PCR; fine-needle aspiration cytology; galectin-3

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