Galectin-3 in differential diagnosis between benign and malignant thyroid follicular tumor

Objective To analyze the expression of Galectin-3 in thyroid follicular tumors and its clinical significance in differential diagnosis between benign and malignant thyroid follicular tumor.Methods The expression of Galectin-3 in 120 cases of thyroid follicular carcinoma and 80 cases of thyroid follicular adenoma was detected by immunohistochemical technique.Results The expression rate of Galectin-3 in thyroid follicular carcinoma was significantly higher than that in follicular adenoma(84％ vs 19％,P ＜ 0.01).Strong positive expression of Galectin-3 was found in 40％ cases of thyroid follicular carcinoma and no case of thyroid follicular adenoma.Conclusions The expression of Galectin-3 can be regarded as an important parameter for differential diagnosis between benign and malignant thyroid follicular tumor. Key words: Thyroid neoplasms ;  Immunohistochemistry;  Gene expression