Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 23, 2025

Spontaneous Murine Model of Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer
Published on: February 3, 2023
Differentiating Thyroid Follicular Adenoma from Follicular Carcinoma via G-Protein Coupled Receptor-Associated
Yuan Rong1, Cesar Torres-Luna2, George Tuszynski2
1Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19140, USA.
Abstract:
Follicular neoplasms are classified as benign or malignant depending on the presence or absence of capsular and/or vascular invasion. Due to incomplete capsular penetration or equivocal vascular invasion, the evaluation of these features can be challenging using histologic examination. In the current study, we analyzed the involvement of G-protein coupled receptor-associated sorting protein 1 (GASP-1) in the development and progression of thyroid neoplasms. Affinity-purified anti-GASP-1 polyclonal antibodies were used for routine immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis. Thyroid tissue microarrays containing normal thyroid tissue, follicular adenoma, follicular carcinoma, papillary thyroid carcinoma, and anaplastic carcinoma were analyzed. We found that the level of GASP-1 expression can differentiate follicular adenoma from follicular carcinoma. When numerous cases were scored for GASP-1 expression by a board-certified pathologist, we found that GASP-1 expression is 7-fold higher in thyroid malignant neoplasms compared to normal thyroid tissue, and about 4-fold higher in follicular carcinoma compared to follicular adenoma. In follicular adenoma tissues, we observed the presence of many mini-glands that are enriched in GASP-1 and some mini-glands contain as few as three cells. GASP-1 IHC also possesses several advantages over the conventional H&E and can be used to identify early thyroid cancer and monitor cancer progression.
Related Concept Videos
Nuclear Protein Sorting
Proteins targeted to the nucleus carry nuclear localization signals or NLS recognized by import receptors in the cytosol. Similarly, proteins with nuclear export signals are recognized by export receptors. Import and export receptors are...
Transducer Mechanism: G Protein–Coupled Receptors
GPCRs are also called heptahelical,...
The Thyroid Gland
The follicles have a central cavity lined by simple cuboidal to squamous epithelial cells called follicular cells. These cells produce the glycoprotein...
GPCRs Regulate Adenylyl Cylase Activity
TGF - β Signaling Pathway

