Proteomics in thyroid cytopathology: Relevance of MALDI-imaging in distinguishing malignant from benign lesions

Several proteomic strategies are used extensively for the purpose of biomarker discovery and in order to obtain insights into the molecular aspects of cancers, using either body fluids or tissue as samples. Among them, MALDI-imaging can be applied to cytological thyroid specimens to investigate the molecular signatures of different pathological conditions and highlight differences in the proteome that are of relevance for diagnostic and pathogenetic research. In this study, 26 ex-vivo fine needle aspirations from benign thyroid nodules (n = 13) and papillary thyroid carcinomas (n = 13) were analyzed by MALDI-imaging. Based on the specific protein signatures capable of distinguishing the aforementioned patients, MALDI-imaging was able to correctly assign, in blind, the specimens from ten additional FNABs to a malignant or benign class, as later confirmed by the morphological classification. Moreover, some proteins presented a progressive overexpression in malignant phenotypes when compared with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and hyperplastic/follicular adenoma. This data not only suggests that a MALDI-imaging based approach can be a valuable tool in the diagnosis of thyroid lesions but also in the detection of proteins that have a possible role in the promotion of tumorigenic activity.