CALCITONIN AND HISTAMINASE IN C-CELL HYPERPLASIA AND MEDULLARY-THYROID CARCINOMA - LIGHT MICROSCOPIC AND IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STUDY

Abstract

The thyroid glands of 13 patients with gross medullary thryoid carcinoma (4 sporadic, 9 familial), 3 patients with clinically occult microscopic carcinoma and 5 patients with C-cell hyperplasia were studied using routine light microscopy and immunohistochemical techniques. The morphologic features of the spectrum of C-cell proliferative lesions are reviewed, and the distribution of calcitonin and histaminase in these lesions is compared. Calcitonin production is a property of normal, hyperplastic and neoplastic C cells, and the hormone is present in the majority of tumor cells in medullary carcinoma. Histaminase is present only in some cells in medullary carcinoma and not in normal or hyperplastic C cells. The presence of histaminase in a C-cell proliferative lesion is an atypical phenomenon and indicative of malignancy.