Potential Biomarkers of thyroid neoplasia: the impact of proteomics analysis in the diagnosis.

Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNA) is the most important tool to correctly address a thyroid lesion. Thyroid cancers account for about 5% of all lesions. A correct diagnosis may be difficult using FNA. Thyroid biomarkers help to better characterized thyroid lesions. Among the new techniques, proteomics , since 2002, has been increasingly used. In this thesis we describe the results obtained by the proteomic analysis of thyroid FNA to detect potential biomarkers for thyroid neoplasia and its impact in clinical management of thyroid malignancies.