The estrogen receptors in the papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland.

In this study, the objective was to evaluate the presence of estrogen receptors alpha and beta (ERalpha and ERbeta) in cases of papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland and to assess the practicality of this test. Immunohistochemical stains were performed for both ERalpha and ERbeta, for evaluation of immunoreactivity in 90 papillary carcinomas. Three variables were evaluated in each sample: the intensity of the staining both nuclear and cytoplasmatic, and the spread of the stain over the sample. None of the histological samples showed immunoreactivity for ERalpha. Positive immunoreactivity results for ERbeta were found in tissue samples in 66.6% (60 cases). The study shows that ERbeta has no significant specification for differentiation between papillary carcinoma and other malignant lesions of the thyroid, while ERalpha is undetectable in this lesion. The ER testing in cases of papillary carcinoma of the thyroid gland is nonspecific and might be not necessary.