Abstract

Background: There were no previous studies tried to find the prediction of PTC occurrence in HT that will advise early thyroidectomy in HT cases with high risk of progression to PTC.
We aimed to use a panel of CD56, HBME-1, and CK-19 to detect their predictive ability for HT progression into PTC.
Patients and methods: we included 5 groups of paraffin blocks that were retrieved from 70 patients. first group included 20 cases of PTC, 2nd group included 20 samples from the same cases previously diagnosed as HT, 3rd group included 30 cases of HT. 4th group included 30 samples from the same cases previously diagnosed as HT and 5th group 20 cases of PTC without history of HT. Sections are stained by CD56, HMBE-1 and CK19 using immunohistochemistry.
Results: There is a significant difference between 2nd (HT that will be transformed to PTC) and 4th (HT that will not be transformed to PTC) groups as regards CD56, HMBE-1 and CK19 expression (P=0.012).
For differentiation between HT that will be transformed to PTC from HT that will not be transformed to PTC, negative CD56 expression was of highest sensitivity (90%) and diffuse positive HBME-1 expression was of highest specificity (95.7%).
Conclusion combination of negative CD56 expression and diffuse positive HMBE-1 could be used with high sensitivity and specificity in predicting PTC occurrence in certain cases of HT and these patients will be advised to made early total thyroidectomy to avoid PTC occurrence in the future.

Keywords: CD56; HBME-1; CK19; Papillary thyroid carcinoma; Hashimoto’s thyroiditis; Immuno-histochemistry