Published in:
Open Access
01-12-2012 | Case report
Proteomic approach used in the diagnosis of Riedel's thyroiditis: a case report
Authors:
Pietro Iacconi, Laura Giusti, Ylenia Da Valle, Federica Ciregia, Gino Giannaccini, Liborio Torregrossa, Agnese Proietti, Gianluca Donatini, Salvatore Mazzeo, Fulvio Basolo, Antonio Lucacchini
Published in:
Journal of Medical Case Reports
|
Issue 1/2012
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Abstract
Introduction
Riedel's thyroiditis, a rare thyroid disease, can be difficult to diagnose prior to surgical removal and can be confused with malignancy both clinically and cytologically.
Case presentation
We report the case of a 72-year-old Caucasian woman who presented with a goiter, which showed a rapid increase in size at ultrasound check, suggesting malignancy. Because of inconclusive cytology, a total thyroidectomy was performed. Fine-needle aspiration of the removed thyroid was processed by two-dimensional electrophoresis, and the proteome was compared with both anaplastic cancer and control samples. Significant differentially expressed protein spots were identified by Western blot analysis by using specific antibodies.
Conclusions
The protein pattern of Riedel's fine-needle aspiration revealed a superimposition with that of the control samples. The comparison of the protein pattern of Riedel's thyroiditis fine-needle aspiration with that of anaplastic cancer showed evidence of a different expression of ferritin heavy chains, ferritin light chains, and haptoglobins, as previously reported in thyroid cancers. Therefore, we performed Western blot analysis of these proteins and validated that their expression levels were low or absent in Riedel's thyroiditis and control samples despite the high concentrations present in fine-needle aspiration anaplastic samples. The concurrent absent or low expression levels of haptoglobin, ferritin light chain, and ferritin heavy chain in Riedel's thyroiditis fine-needle aspiration samples strongly indicate the benign nature of the thyroid lesion. These results suggest the potential applicability of fine-needle aspiration proteome analysis for Riedel's thyroiditis diagnosis.