Broecker-Preuss M et al. - In a trial to investigate c-kit expression in anaplastic and poorly differentiated thyroid carcinoma compared with differentiated carcinoma and adenoma and the presence of c-kit mutations, it was found that low or lacking c-kit expression in undifferentiated thyroid carcinoma together with the lack of mutations argue against a crucial role of c-kit in thyroid carcinoma cell proliferation Methods
224 thyroid tissues were analyzed by immunohistochemistry
Mutation analysis of exon 9, 11, 13, and 17 of the c-kit gene was performed in anaplastic and poorly differentiated carcinoma
Results
Kit expression was negative in all anaplastic thyroid carcinoma, while c-kit expression of poorly differentiated carcinoma showed a high variability with a more intense staining in tumors showing obvious differentiated malignant follicular tumor areas
Differentiated carcinoma showed a slight, but not significantly stronger c-kit expression than poorly differentiated carcinoma
All tumors revealed wild type sequences of c-kit gene in exons 9, 11, 13, and 17
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