TROP-2 expression in papillary thyroid carcinoma: Potential Diagnostic Utility

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Pathology
• Biomarker Discovery

Background:

• Trop-2, a type I transmembrane glycoprotein, is over-expressed in various malignancies.
• Trop-2 is related to the epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM).
• Accurate diagnosis of thyroid neoplasms is crucial for appropriate patient management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate Trop-2 expression in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).
• To compare Trop-2 expression in PTC with other thyroid lesions.
• To assess Trop-2 as a diagnostic marker for PTC.

Main Methods:

• Immunohistochemical (IHC) evaluation of Trop-2 expression on 137 thyroid fine needle aspiration (FNA) cell blocks (CB).
• Analysis included classic PTC, follicular variant PTC, anaplastic carcinoma, medullary carcinoma, follicular neoplasms, Hurthle cell neoplasms, follicular lesion of uncertain significance (FLUS), and benign thyroid nodules (BTN).
• IHC for Trop-2 was also performed on 331 BTN and malignant tumor tissue sections in tissue microarrays (TMA).

Main Results:

• Trop-2 was positive in 61/64 classic PTC CB and 7/10 FVPTC CB.
• Trop-2 showed high sensitivity (95.31%) and specificity (89%) for classic PTC in FNA CB.
• All benign thyroid nodules (BTN) in both CB and TMA were negative for Trop-2.

Conclusions:

• Trop-2 is a highly sensitive and specific immunohistochemical marker for identifying classic PTC.
• Trop-2 can aid in differentiating PTC from benign thyroid nodules.
• Trop-2 may play a significant role in diagnosing equivocal thyroid cases.