Expression of Bcl-xL gene in human thyroid carcinoma and its significance

Objective: To test the expression of Bcl-xL gene in human thyroid carcinoma tissues, and study the role of Bcl-xL in the development and progression of thyroid carcinoma. Methods: The mRNA expressions of Bcl-xL were detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with its corresponding primers, and its protein expressions were detected by Western Blot in 38 clinical confirmed thyroid carcinoma tissues and their corresponding adjacent tissues (more than 5 cm far away from the tumor tissue) as well as 12 benign thyroid lesion tissues from non-cancer patients. Results: The positive rates (76.3%) and expression levels (0.70 ± 0.15) of Bcl-xL mRNA in thyroid carcinoma tissues were significantly higher than those in their corresponding adjacent tissues (18.4%, 0.20 ± 0.05) and benign thyroid lesion tissues (33.3%, 0.19 ± 0.04), P<0.01, the expression of Bcl-xL mRNA was not correlated with the factors such as gender, age, morphological types and lymph node metastasis, P > 0.05. There was no difference in the positive rate and expression level of Bcl-xL mRNA between the adjacent tissues and benign thyroid neoplasm tissues, P > 0.05. The results of Western blot were very similar to those of RT-PCR. Conclusion: Bcl-xL expression is obviously higher in cancer tissues than that in adjacent tissues or in benign thyroid neoplasm tissues, which suggests that Bcl-xL may promote the development and progression of thyroid carcinoma.