Regular Article

British Journal of Cancer (2001) 85, 875–880. doi:10.1054/bjoc.2001.2015 www.bjcancer.com
Published online 11 September 2001

Is there loss or qualitative changes in the expression of thyroid peroxidase protein in thyroid epithelial cancer?

B Czarnocka1,2, D Pastuszko1, M Janota-Bzowski1, A P Weetman3, P F Watson3, E H Kemp3, R S McIntosh4, M S Asghar4, B Jarzab5, E Gubala5, J Wloch5 and D Lange5

  1. 1Department of Biochemistry, Medical Center of Postgraduate Education, Marymoncka 99, Warsaw, 01–813, Poland
  2. 2Department of Endocrinology, Medical Research Center, Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw, Poland
  3. 3Department of Medicine, University of Sheffield Clinical Sciences Center, Northern General Hospital, Sheffield, S5 7AU, United Kingdom
  4. 4Clinical Immunology Unit, Queen's Medical Center, Nottingham, NG7 2UH, United Kingdom
  5. 5Oncology Center, M Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Institute, Gliwice, Poland

Received 26 October 2000; Revised 11 June 2001; Accepted 2 July 2001.

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Abstract

There is disagreement concerning the expression of thyroid peroxidase (TPO) in thyroid cancer, some studies finding qualitative as well as quantitative differences compared to normal tissue. To investigate TPO protein expression and its antigenic properties, TPO was captured from a solubilizate of thyroid microsomes by a panel of murine anti-TPO monoclonal antibodies and detected with a panel of anti-human TPO IgGkappa Fab. TPO protein expression in 30 samples of malignant thyroid tissue was compared with TPO from adjacent normal tissues. Virtual absence of TPO expression was observed in 8 cases. In the remaining 22 malignant thyroid tumours the TPO protein level varied considerably from normal to nearly absent when compared to normal thyroid tissue or tissues from patients with Graves' disease (range less than 0.5 to more than 12.5 mug mg–1 of protein). When expressed TPO displayed similar epitopes, to that of TPO from Graves' disease tissue. The results obtained by the TPO capturing method were confirmed by SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis with both microsomes and their solubilizates. The present results show that in about two-thirds of differentiated thyroid carcinomas, TPO protein is expressed, albeit to a more variable extent than normal; when present, TPO in malignant tissues is immunologically normal. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.com

Keywords:

differentiated thyroid cancer, TPO, mAb, IgGkappa, Fab, epitope

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