Study on the correlation between serum and tissue cytokeratin-19 in the differential diagnosis of papillary and follicular thyroid carcinoma

Abstract EN

Background It has been postulated that serum cytokeratins could play a role in the prognosis and in predicting the risk of metastases in thyroid cancer after total thyroidectomy. Aim: The present study was carried out to assess i) the value of cytokeratin-19 (CK-19) as a possible tumor marker for thyroid malignancies, ii) evaluate its tissue expression in the differential diagnosis of various thyroid lesions and iii) explore a possible correlation between serum and tissue (CK-19). Methods : blood and tissue samples were collected from patients with benign thyroid lesions and patients with thyroid carcinomas. Results: tissue expression of CK-19 proved to be a highly sensitive (100%) and a specific (80%) marker for papillary carcinoma, differentiating it from other thyroid malignancies, differentiating its follicular variant from follicular carcinoma, and also it helped the differentiation between papillary carcinoma and benign thyroid lesions. Conclusion: the results of the present study may point out to the possible role of serum CK-19 as a new prognostic factor for thyroid malignances, especially with the presence of strong correlation between serum and tissue expression of CK-19.