In this study, 105 cases of thyroid lesions were evaluated to assess the role of HBME-1,
cytokeratin-19 (CK-19),
galectin-3 in distinguishing benign from malignant thyroid lesions. Thirty-seven papillary, 10 follicular, 6 medullary, 1 mixed medullary follicular cell
carcinoma, 3 poorly differentiated
carcinoma, 18 adenomatous nodular
hyperplasia, 30
follicular adenoma cases were included in the study. Immunohistochemical staining was performed with HBME-1, CK-19,
galectin-3 on cross-sections derived from selected
paraffin blocks. Benign and malignant lesions were compared in terms of intensity, percentage and type of staining with CK-19, HBME-1 and
galectin-3, and a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) was found. The percentage and intensity of staining was higher in malignant lesions. Especially, strong and diffuse expressions of CK19, HBME-1 and
galectin-3 were observed in
papillary carcinomas. Membranous (
luminal) staining was seen more frequently in malignant lesions; cytoplasmic staining in benign lesions. It was concluded that these markers could assist in the diagnosis of thyroid lesions with cellular properties suspicious for the diagnosis of
papillary carcinoma and without
capsule and vessel invasion. They may be used especially in cases where the follicular variant of
papillary carcinoma,
follicular adenoma and follicular
carcinoma are confused with each other and
follicular adenoma cannot be differentiated from follicular
carcinoma.