Fig. 1.
Expression of P-AKT, total AKT, and PTEN by immunohistochemistry in thyroid tissues from PTENMut+ CS patients. Note nuclear-predominant (A), cytoplasmic-predominant (B), nuclear-cytoplasmic equal (C), and negative (D) P-AKT staining in thyroid tumor tissues from different CS patients. Adjacent normal tissues from CS patients with (E) or without (F) PTEN gene mutation were included as controls. Case numbers and PTEN genotypes were labeled on the left. PTEN staining was negative in thyroid tumor cells of all 22 PTENMut+ CS patients that we tested. Note the strong staining intensity of the stromal cells that serve as internal positive controls for PTEN, and also note the loss of stromal PTEN in PTC (A) and anaplastic thyroid cancer (B) but not adenomas (C and D). In the adjacent thyroid tissue (E), PTEN can be detected in a few follicular epithelial cells, whereas the expression of P-AKT is weaker than that in the tumor tissues from the same patient (A). Magnification, ×40.