The expression of CK19, vimentin and E-cadherin in differentiated thyroid carcinomas

Thyroid carcinomas constitute lesions with an ascending incidence, for which many prognosis assessment systems were developed. This study focused on analyzing the immunoexpression of CK19, vimentin and E-cadherin in a number of 43 differentiated thyroid carcinomas, of which 39 papillary carcinomas and four follicular carcinomas, and assessed the relationship of these markers with clinico-pathological parameters of interest, such as age and gender of patients, the histological type and subtype, tumor size and extension, metastases in regional lymph nodes and tumor stage. CK19 immunostaining indicated higher scores in conventional and follicular papillary carcinomas compared with tall cell variant. In relation to the size and extension of the tumor, we found significantly higher values of vimentin and E-cadherin scores in T1-T2 carcinomas compared with T3-T4 category and a positive linear distribution of these markers, which sustain their involvement in common mechanisms of tumor progression.