Abstract
Thymic carcinoma is a rare disease, and the advisability of surgical resection greatly influences the prognosis. As with several protein targets in molecular medicine, efficacy has been demonstrated the thymic carcinoma, similar to other organs. However, the efficacy of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor γ (PPARγ) for thymic carcinoma has not yet been proven. We investigated the expression of PPARγ in eight thymic carcinomas and eight thymomas (Type B3) using immunohistochemical staining with a monoclonal PPARγ antibody. We examined the incidence of the immunostaining, immunoreactive-positive rate and survival rate and considered whether PPARγ could become 1) a Diagnostic factor, 2) a Prognostic factor, and 3) Treatment preference factor for molecular targeting therapy. Results: PPARγ immunostaining and the immunoreactive-positive rate were significantly higher in the thymic carcinoma group. The survival rate was significantly better in the PPARγ-positive thymic carcinoma group. The possibility that expression of PPARγ could become a Diagnosis factor, a Prognostic factor and Treatment preference factor for molecular targeting drugs is suggested.
