TY - JOUR
T1 - Prognostic value of N-myc immunoreactivity in medullary thyroid carcinoma
AU - Roncalli, M.
AU - Viale, G.
AU - Grimelius, L.
AU - Johansson, H.
AU - Wilander, E.
AU - Alfano, R. M.
AU - Springall, D.
AU - Battezzati, P. M.
AU - Polak, J. M.
AU - Coggi, G.
PY - 1994
Y1 - 1994
N2 - Background. The analysis of N-myc expression in some neuroendocrine tumors has been reported to provide prognostic information. To the authors' knowledge, no attempts have been made thus far to correlate N-myc expression with the clinical outcome of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). Methods. N- myc gene product immunoreactivity was evaluated in 34 patients with MTC with long term follow-up, using the OA-11-803 polyclonal antiserum. The results were related to patient age and sex, sporadic or familial disease, tumor size, stage, growth rate (as determined by proliferating cell nuclear antigen [PCNA] immunostaining), and to clinical outcome. Results. Patients harboring tumors with greater than 10% neoplastic cells immunoreactive to the N-myc antiserum (58% of the cases investigated) had significantly greater tumor size (P = 0.031) than patients with fewer or no N-myc immunoreactive cells. Deregulated expression of N-myc protein in tumor cells was not due to gene amplification, as demonstrated by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In univariate analysis, patients with more than 10% immunoreactive neoplastic cells showed a significantly shorter disease free survival than did the remaining patients (P = 0.002). Among the other clinicopathologic parameters evaluated, male sex (P = 0.039) and sporadic disease (P = 0.035) also were associated with shorter disease free survival. In multivariate analysis, N- myc immunoreactivity (P = 0.039) and male sex (p = 0.050) retained a significant correlation with poor prognosis. Conclusions. Our results suggest that immunoreactivity to the N-myc antiserum, but not tumor growth fraction as evaluated by PCNA immunostaining, is a novel and useful adjunct to predict clinical behavior of MTC.
AB - Background. The analysis of N-myc expression in some neuroendocrine tumors has been reported to provide prognostic information. To the authors' knowledge, no attempts have been made thus far to correlate N-myc expression with the clinical outcome of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). Methods. N- myc gene product immunoreactivity was evaluated in 34 patients with MTC with long term follow-up, using the OA-11-803 polyclonal antiserum. The results were related to patient age and sex, sporadic or familial disease, tumor size, stage, growth rate (as determined by proliferating cell nuclear antigen [PCNA] immunostaining), and to clinical outcome. Results. Patients harboring tumors with greater than 10% neoplastic cells immunoreactive to the N-myc antiserum (58% of the cases investigated) had significantly greater tumor size (P = 0.031) than patients with fewer or no N-myc immunoreactive cells. Deregulated expression of N-myc protein in tumor cells was not due to gene amplification, as demonstrated by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In univariate analysis, patients with more than 10% immunoreactive neoplastic cells showed a significantly shorter disease free survival than did the remaining patients (P = 0.002). Among the other clinicopathologic parameters evaluated, male sex (P = 0.039) and sporadic disease (P = 0.035) also were associated with shorter disease free survival. In multivariate analysis, N- myc immunoreactivity (P = 0.039) and male sex (p = 0.050) retained a significant correlation with poor prognosis. Conclusions. Our results suggest that immunoreactivity to the N-myc antiserum, but not tumor growth fraction as evaluated by PCNA immunostaining, is a novel and useful adjunct to predict clinical behavior of MTC.
KW - immunocytochemistry
KW - medullary thyroid carcinoma
KW - multiplex polymerase chain reaction
KW - N-myc
KW - prognosis
KW - proliferating cell nuclear antigen
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U2 - 10.1002/1097-0142(19940701)74:1<134::AID-CNCR2820740122>3.0.CO;2-M
DO - 10.1002/1097-0142(19940701)74:1<134::AID-CNCR2820740122>3.0.CO;2-M
M3 - Article
C2 - 7911734
AN - SCOPUS:0028321594
VL - 74
SP - 134
EP - 141
JO - Cancer
JF - Cancer
SN - 0008-543X
IS - 1
ER -