Figure 2.

Immunohistochemical and western blot analysis of MEDAG in PTC, para-cancer and nodular goiter tissues: Paraffin-embedded sections were stained using an anti-MEDAG monoclonal antibody as described in the Methods section. Benign tissue sections and negative control samples showing no detectable immunohistochemical staining (A,B). Negative(−) or faint(+) cytoplasmic staining was observed in PTC without LNM (C,D). Moderate(++) to strong(+++) cytoplasmic staining were visible in LNM cases (E,F). Nuclear and/or cytoplasmic staining were observed in FVPTC (G,H). Scores for LNM-positive sections are 2.71 (±0.62), compared with LNM-negative 2.20 (±0.98). ^#P < 0.05, Mann-Whitney Test (K). Immunohistochemical staining of MEDAG in nodular goiter (I). Immunohistochemical staining of MEDAG PTC and para-cancer tissues (J). Ratio of total MEDAG signal to β-tubulin signal in the WB. The data are presented as the mean values ± S.E.M. One-way ANOVA: *P < 0.05; **P, ***P < 0.01 (M). Representative images of WB analysis of benign thyroid tissue, nodular goiter and different stages of PTMC (D). Original magnification (A–G), (I): ×400; (H,J): ×100. (L) The β-Tubulin blots were exposed for 4 s and MEDAG blots exposed for 3 min.