Dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP IV/CD26) staining predicts distant metastasis of 'benign' thyroid tumor.

Because follicular thyroid carcinoma is extremely difficult to diagnose, several cases were encountered which have been rediagnosed as carcinoma due to distant metastasis. In the search for a method of correctly diagnosing 'benign' thyroid tumor, dipeptidyl peptidase (DPP) IV immunostaining was applied to 10 cases whose diagnoses had been corrected to follicular thyroid carcinoma because of distant metastases. The positive rate of immunostaining using paraffin sections in the rediagnosed follicular thyroid carcinoma group (7/10) was much higher than that of the control group (1/29), which consisted of 15 cases of follicular thyroid adenoma and 14 cases of nodular hyperplasia. These results suggested that pre- or postoperative DPP IV staining is useful for predicting distant metastasis of 'benign' thyroid tumor.