Bax expression in benign and malignant thyroid tumours: Dysregulation of wild-type P53 is associated with a high Bax and P21 expression in thyroid carcinoma

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Abstract
The purpose of our study was to determine the expression of the pro‐apoptotic BAX protein in relation to the mutational status of BAX and p53 (as transcriptional activator of the BAX gene) in benign and malignant thyroid tissue. In 47 patients with thyroid tumours (14 follicular and 3 papillary carcinomas, 14 adenomas and 16 goitres), the DNA was screened for mutations of BAX (exon 1–6) and p53 (exon 5–8) by single‐strand conformation polymorphism polymerase chain reaction (SSCP‐PCR). Furthermore, the protein expression of BAX, p53 and p21 (which is also increased transcriptionally by p53) was investigated by immunohistochemistry. Surprisingly, we observed elevated BAX levels in patients with thyroid carcinomas compared with patients with adenomas (unpaired t‐test: pppp<0.05 in the carcinomas compared with the non‐malignant lesions). Consequently, the overexpressed p53 might be a correlate for dysregulation without loss of function. This, in turn, might be a reason for the good outcome of some patients with thyroid cancer.

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