Galectin-3 Immunohistochemical Expression In Neoplastic And Non-Neoplastic Lesions Of Thyroid

Background: Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy. The galectin-3 is a member of the beta-galectoside family that play an important role in cellular growth, differentiation and malignant transformation in various organs including thyroid. Aim: To evaluate immunohistochemical expression of galectin-3 in neoplastic and non-neoplastic thyroid lesions and correlated with histopathology. Materials and Methods: In this observational study we evaluated gal-3 expression in spectrum of 67 histopathological diagnosed sample including as follows: 30 PTC (included 9 classical variant, 18 follicular, 02 solid variant, 01 micropapillary), 10 FTC, 14 benign neoplasm (including follicular adenoma and hurthle cell adenoma) and 13 non neoplastic (includes hyperplasia and inflammatory lesions) cases. To rule out subjective differences during IHC, a 3- observe evaluation method was used. Statistical analysis: The statistical analysis was done using SPSS (statistical package for social sciences) version 15.0 statistical analysis software. Results: Galectin-3 expression was significantly higher in malignant thyroid neoplasm as compared to benign neoplasms (p<0.0001). Maximum number of malignant cases were aged between 41 to 50 years and majority of subjects were females. For scoring, it was observed that as compared to non-neoplastic, neoplastic lesions had higher scores (p=0.012). Conclusion: The Gal-3 to be used as adjunct for aiding thyroid cancer diagnosis.