Abstract
Bcl-2 and Bax proteins, which are involved in repressing and promoting programmed cell death, respectively, have been investigated immunohistochemically and by Western blot analysis in a series of thyroid tumours. Three immunostaining patterns were identified. Benign lesions and well-differentiated thyroid carcinomas displayed a profile similar to that of normal follicular epithelium, in which Bcl-2 immunostaining was predominant. Thyroid carcinomas associated with an aggressive behaviour, such as the tall-cell variant of papillary carcinoma and the poorly differentiated carcinomas, co-expressed both proteins. Finally, anaplastic carcinomas expressed only the Bax protein. Western blot analyses revealed that the anti-Bcl-2 antibody recognized two bands, of molecular weights 21 kDa and 25 kDa. This was only seen in the tall-cell papillary carcinomas and in the anaplastic carcinomas.
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Manetto, V., Lorenzini, R., Cordon-Cardo, C. et al. Bcl-2 and Bax expression in thyroid tumours An immunohistochemical and Western blot analysis. Virchows Archiv 430, 125–130 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01008033
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01008033