C-Kit in Thyroid Papillary Carcinomas

Abstract

In this study, slides of 91 thyroid papillary carcinoma cases, which were recruited from the archives of the Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Ondokuz Mayis University, between years 1990 and 2006 were examined. Seventy eight of 91 cases were considered as classical type and the remaining 13 as follicular variant. Immunohistochemistry with c-kit (CD117) was applied on the selected appropriate blocks. Seventy six of 91 cases (83,51%) were positively stained. The cases were evaluated comparatively for their histological subtypes in terms of the density and intensity of the staining. C-kit showed stronger and more diffuse staining in thyroid papillary carcinomas compared to adjacent non-neoplastic thyroid tissue and also to the follicular variant of the classical type. This finding suggests that c-kit can provide new evolutionary information related to thyroid papillary carcinomas in terms of diagnostic and therapeutic perspectives.