Application of Immunocytochemistry
Written By: Aditi Kumar
The application of immunocytochemistry and immunohistochemistry is narrowed down mainly towards the use of diagnosis for thyroid tumours and thyroid pathology as a whole. Specialists and pathologists have clear outlines and procedures when making a diagnosis, however, in the rare cases that they cannot, cytology becomes crucial. The following presents an analysis and explanation of a study published in the Journal of Oncology titled: The Immunocytochemistry Is a Valuable Tool in the Diagnosis of Papillary Thyroid Cancer in FNA’s Using Liquid-Based Cytology.
Liquid-based cytology and thin layer cytology make the transition from using a smear of cells for diagnosis to using a suspension of these cells. This would be used to make a thin layer of cells on a glass slide. Widely used for cervical cancer, liquid-based cytology is an effort to make population screening significantly more swift and effective. It is also proven to decrease the number of false negatives results. The use of LBC in the UK and Wales showed extreme cost-effectiveness, nearly 10,000 euros less in cost compared to traditional LYGs.
Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma is known to be the most malignant, and thus the most dangerous form of thyroid cancer. The only method of diagnosis currently is fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). The biopsy required a needle to be entered through the mass, tumor, or lesion to collect a sample of cells that would later be used to build the diagnosis. As successful as these are in detecting PTC, “the cytomorphological characteristics” of PTC, which are used for treatments and definitive detection, are common not only in PTC but also in other benign cancers. Here, the application of immunochemistry plays a hopeful role in making an accurate identification of the cancer.
The smear method doesn’t reflect any major complications, but is rather encouraged and widely used for thyroid cancer. It presents key attributes and features of a tumor, including; “nuclear grooves, papillary fronds, monolayered sheets of cells, psammoma bodies, multinucleated giant cells, and intranuclear cytoplasmic inclusions.”Despite this, many of these features cannot be observed and some lie in common with other cancers. In fact, the large variation of follicles in PTC is the known cause of a large number of false negatives.
CK-19, Galectin-3, CD-44, and HBME1 compounds were found to be very prevalent and reactive in PTC samples, while CD-56 and E-cadherin were found to be non-reactive and absent. CK-19 helped in differentiating between benign and malignant tumors, Galectin-3 was a “marker for malignancy,” and CD-44 was found to be in elevated amounts in the samples. Both G3 and CD-44 were in high volumes. The involvement of immunochemistry here heightened the accuracy and ease of PCT diagnosis, without being highly complex.
Sources
- Pazaitou-Panayiotou, K., Mygdakos, N., Boglou, K., Kiziridou, A., Chrisoulidou, A., & Destouni, C. (2010). Immunocytochemistry Is a Valuable Tool in the Diagnosis of Papillary Thyroid Cancer in FNA’s Using Liquid-Based Cytology. Journal of oncology, 2010, 963926. https://doi.org/10.1155/2010/963926
- J Karnon, J Peters, J Platt, J Chilcott, E McGoogan, and N Brewer (2004).Liquid-based cytology in cervical screening: an updated rapid and systematic review and economic analysis, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK62300/
