Expression of C-erbB-2 and Ki-67 in thyroid tumor and its clinical significance

Objective To investigate the expression of C-erbB-2 and anti-nuclear antigen Ki-67 in thyroid tumor, and its significance in pathologic diagnosis and prognosis the patient. Methods SP immunohistochemical technique was used to detect the expression of C-erbB-2 and Ki-67 in thyroid tissue of 90 cases of thyroid carcinoma and 20 cases of thyroid adenoma. Results High expression of both C-erbB-2 and Ki-67 in thyroid carcinoma, and their expression was weak in thyroid adenoma. The positive rate of C-erbB-2 expression in thyroid carcinoma was statistically higher than that in thyroid adenoma (48.9% vs 20.0%, P0.05). The proliferation index (LI) of Ki-67 in thyroid carcinoma was notably higher than that in thyroid adenoma ( 44.0±39.3 vs 16.8±17.2, P0.05). There was positive correlation between expressions of C-erbB-2 and Ki-67 (r=0.81, P0.01). Conclusions Strong expression of C-erbB-2 and Ki-67 in thyroid carcinoma implies that C-erbB-2 and Ki-67 may play important roles in the development of thyroid carcinoma. The detection of C-erbB-2 and Ki-67 expression may be useful for the differentiatial diagnosis and prognosis evaluation of thyroid carcinoma and thyroid adenoma.[HS(2*2/3]