Rationales for the Use of Cancer Stem Cells Markers in the Staging of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.

Fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) is a standard procedure for the detection of thyroid nodules malignancy, yet 10-25% of the sample diagnosed may go undetermined or suspicious. The utility of cancer stem cell markers (CSCM) as a differential diagnosis molecular marker in nodules of suspicious decision in FNAB was hypothesized. Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and thyroid fibroadenoma (TFA) samples were selected to test the hypothesis.