Skip to main content
PMC home page
The American Journal of Pathology logoLink to The American Journal of Pathology
. 1987 Oct;129(1):177–182.

Immunohistochemical localization of metallothionein in human thyroid tumors.

N Nartey 1, M G Cherian 1, D Banerjee 1
PMCID: PMC1899699  PMID: 3661677

Abstract

High levels of metallothionein (MT) are present in the developing mammalian liver; however, a remarkable decrease is observed during postnatal life after weaning. This developmental profile is similar to that of certain oncofetal gene products such as alpha-fetoprotein, which is used as a tumor marker. This study deals with the reexpression of MT genes in thyroid tumors. With an immunohistochemical method, the presence of MT was investigated in tissue sections of normal and neoplastic human thyroid glands. Tissue sections of 34 thyroid tumors and 10 normal human thyroid glands were studied by means of the peroxidase-antiperoxidase method. MT was localized in 31 of the thyroid gland tumors. MT was also present in two of the normal thyroid glands. These findings indicate that although high levels of MT are mainly found in the fetal liver, it may also be expressed actively in certain human thyroid neoplastic tissues, and occasionally in normal thyroid tissue.

Full text

PDF
180

Images in this article

178Figure 1
on p.178
179Figure 2
on p.179
179Figure 3
on p.179
180Figure 4
on p.180
180Figure 5
on p.180
181Figure 6
on p.181

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Andrews G. K., Adamson E. D., Gedamu L. The ontogeny of expression of murine metallothionein: comparison with the alpha-fetoprotein gene. Dev Biol. 1984 Jun;103(2):294–303. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(84)90317-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Banerjee D., Onosaka S., Cherian M. G. Immunohistochemical localization of metallothionein in cell nucleus and cytoplasm of rat liver and kidney. Toxicology. 1982;24(2):95–105. doi: 10.1016/0300-483x(82)90048-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bell J. U. A metallothionein-like protein in the hepatic cytosol of the term rat fetus. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 1979 Mar 30;48(1 Pt 1):139–144. doi: 10.1016/s0041-008x(79)80016-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bremner I., Davies N. T. The induction of metallothionein in rat liver by zinc injection and restriction of food intake. Biochem J. 1975 Sep;149(3):733–738. doi: 10.1042/bj1490733. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bremner I., Williams R. B., Young B. W. Distribution of copper and zinc in the liver of the developing sheep foetus. Br J Nutr. 1977 Jul;38(1):87–92. doi: 10.1079/bjn19770064. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Chang C. C., Vander Mallie R. J., Garvey J. S. A radioimmunoassay for human metallothionein. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 1980 Aug;55(1):94–102. doi: 10.1016/0041-008x(80)90224-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Klaassen C. D. Induction of metallothionein by adrenocortical steroids. Toxicology. 1981;20(4):275–279. doi: 10.1016/0300-483x(81)90034-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Kägi J. H., Himmelhoch S. R., Whanger P. D., Bethune J. L., Vallee B. L. Equine hepatic and renal metallothioneins. Purification, molecular weight, amino acid composition, and metal content. J Biol Chem. 1974 Jun 10;249(11):3537–3542. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Mason R., Brady F. O., Webb M. Metabolism of zinc and copper in the neonate: accumulation of Cu in the gastrointestinal tract of the newborn rat. Br J Nutr. 1981 Mar;45(2):391–399. doi: 10.1079/bjn19810114. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Oh S. H., Deagen J. T., Whanger P. D., Weswig P. H. Biological function of metallothionein. V. Its induction in rats by various stresses. Am J Physiol. 1978 Mar;234(3):E282–E285. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.1978.234.3.E282. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Onosaka S., Cherian M. G. The induced synthesis of metallothionein in various tissues of rats in response to metals. II. Influence of zinc status and specific effect on pancreatic metallothionein. Toxicology. 1982;23(1):11–20. doi: 10.1016/0300-483x(82)90037-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Onosaka S., Min K. S., Fukuhara C., Tanaka K., Tashiro S., Shimizu I., Furuta M., Yasutomi T., Kobashi K., Yamamoto K. Concentrations of metallothionein and metals in malignant and non-malignant tissues in human liver. Toxicology. 1986 Mar;38(3):261–268. doi: 10.1016/0300-483x(86)90142-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Panemangalore M., Banerjee D., Onosaka S., Cherian M. G. Changes in the intracellular accumulation and distribution of metallothionein in rat liver and kidney during postnatal development. Dev Biol. 1983 May;97(1):95–102. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(83)90067-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Riordan J. R., Richards V. Human fetal liver contains both zinc- and copper-rich forms of metallothionein. J Biol Chem. 1980 Jun 10;255(11):5380–5383. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Rydén L., Deutsch H. F. Preparation and properties of the major copper-binding component in human fetal liver. Its identification as metallothionein. J Biol Chem. 1978 Jan 25;253(2):519–524. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Savino W., Huang P. C., Corrigan A., Berrih S., Dardenne M. Thymic hormone-containing cells. V. Immunohistological detection of metallothionein within the cells bearing thymulin (a zinc-containing hormone) in human and mouse thymuses. J Histochem Cytochem. 1984 Sep;32(9):942–946. doi: 10.1177/32.9.6379040. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Templeton D. M., Banerjee D., Cherian M. G. Metallothionein synthesis and localization in relation to metal storage in rat liver during gestation. Can J Biochem Cell Biol. 1985 Jan;63(1):16–22. doi: 10.1139/o85-003. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Tohyama C., Shaikh Z. A. Cross-reactivity of metallothioneins from different origins with rabbit anti-rat hepatic metallothione in antibody. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1978 Oct 30;84(4):907–913. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(78)91669-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Vallee B. L., Galdes A. The metallobiochemistry of zinc enzymes. Adv Enzymol Relat Areas Mol Biol. 1984;56:283–430. doi: 10.1002/9780470123027.ch5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Vander Mallie R. J., Garvey J. S. Radioimmunoassay of metallothioneins. J Biol Chem. 1979 Sep 10;254(17):8416–8421. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Webb M., Cain K. Functions of metallothionein. Biochem Pharmacol. 1982 Jan 15;31(2):137–142. doi: 10.1016/0006-2952(82)90202-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Winge D. R., Premakumar R., Rajagopalan K. V. Metal-induced formation of metallothionein in rat liver. Arch Biochem Biophys. 1975 Sep;170(1):242–252. doi: 10.1016/0003-9861(75)90115-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The American Journal of Pathology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Investigative Pathology

RESOURCES