Anti-PEX1 polyclonal antibody

We report a case of local squamous cell carcinoma recurrence of thyroid papillary carcinoma, 4 years after subtotal thyroidectomy, in an 82-year-old woman. The papillary cancer of the right thyroid was histopathologically classified as T2a, N0, M0, Ex1; pT2a, pN1b, pEx1; Stage III. Fine-needle aspiration cytology of the recurrent tumor revealed atypical squamous epithelium-like cells with keratinization. The tumor was judged cytologically to be class III, defined as a suspicious malignancy and, after reoperation, it was diagnosed histopathologically as papillary carcinoma recurrence with extensive squamous metaplasia. The recurrent papillary carcinoma was thought to have changed to a squamous cell carcinoma because most of the tumor was occupied by atypical squamous cells, with a small amount of glandular tissue. The primary tumor was histologically diagnosed as a well-differentiated papillary carcinoma at the initial operation. It contained numerous tall neoplastic cells with eosinophilic granules and pseudostratified nuclei, indicating that it could potentially transform into squamous cell carcinoma. We report this case as an example of how squamous cell carcinoma of the thyroid can develop.

The study of insect cuticular proteins and their sequences is of interest because they are involved in protein-protein and protein-chitin interactions which confer the mechanical properties and fine architecture of the cuticle. Moreover, in the coleopteran Tenebrio molitor there is a dramatic change in cuticular architecture between pre- and postecdysial secretion. We report the isolation, by differential screening, and the sequence characterization of a cDNA clone encoding a cuticular protein of T. molitor, ACP17. After insertion in the expression vector pEX1, the recognition of the fusion protein by an anti-cuticular monoclonal antibody confirmed the cuticular nature of ACP17. Northern hybridization analysis showed that ACP17 mRNA expression begins weakly 3 days before adult ecdysis and strongly increases during the secretion of postecdysial adult cuticle, with a maximum just after ecdysis. In situ hybridization revealed that the ACP17 mRNA is only present in the epidermis which secretes hard cuticle. The deduced amino acid (aa) composition exhibits a high content of Gly (28%) and Ala (20%) and, particularly, two poly(Gx) stretches separated by repetitive motifs with proline AAPVA, A comparison is made with other cuticle aa sequences.