Immunostaining of galectin‐3 and CD44v6 using fine‐needle aspiration for distinguishing follicular carcinoma from adenoma

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Abstract
To evaluate the clinical applicability of galectin‐3 and CD44 variant 6 (CD44v6) immunostaining in fine‐needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of thyroid follicular tumors, 79 cytological specimens (35 follicular carcinomas and 44 follicular adenomas) were studied. The positive rates of galectin‐3 and CD44v6 were 89 and 74% in follicular carcinoma, respectively, and 25 and 30% in follicular adenoma, respectively. There were no significant correlations between the expression of galectin‐3 or CD44v6 in follicular carcinoma and characteristics such as capsular invasion, vascular invasion, metastasis, or tumor size. Positive staining of either galectin‐3 or CD44v6 resulted in a diagnostic sensitivity of 97% and a specificity of 52% for follicular carcinoma among follicular tumors. Immunostaining of galectin‐3 or CD44v6 using cytological specimens can provide independent information on conventional morphological findings of cytology to distinguish follicular carcinoma from adenoma. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2004;31:392–396.