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Ret/PTC Chimeric Transcripts in an Irish Cohort of Sporadic Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

Department of Histopathology (S.P.F., P.S., E.C.S., O.S.), Trinity College and St. James’s Hospital, Dublin 8, Ireland; and the Department of Pathology (J.O.L.), Coombe Women’s Hospital and Trinity College, Dublin 8, Ireland

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. Orla Sheils, Department of Histopathology, C.P.L., St. James’s Hospital, Dublin 8, Ireland. E-mail: osheils{at}tcd.ie.

Abstract

Ret rearrangements are common in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), with ret/PTC-3 commonly seen in children exposed to ionizing radiation. In this context ret/PTC-3 has been correlated with solid variant morphology, poorer prognosis, and aggressive tumor behavior. We aimed to assess the prevalence of the common ret chimeric transcripts (ret/PTC-1 and ret/PTC-3) in a group of sporadic PTC and correlate them with tumor morphology. Thyroid follicular cells were laser capture microdissected from sections of archival PTC (n = 28). Total RNA was extracted and analyzed for expression of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, ret/PTC-1, and ret/PTC-3 using TaqMan PCR. Ret/PTC rearrangements were detected in 60% of PTCs. Specifically transcripts of ret/PTC-1 and ret/PTC-3 were detected in 43% and 18% of PTCs, respectively. Ret/PTC-3 was detected in only follicular variant subtype (60%) and was not detected in classic PTC. One case of tall cell variant demonstrated chimeric expression of both ret/PTC-1 and ret/PTC-3 transcripts within the same tumor. This study demonstrated a high prevalence of the two common ret rearrangements in an Irish cohort of PTCs. A correlation of tumor morphology with these common ret rearrangements is suggested.

Footnotes

This work was supported by the Health Research Board, Cancer Research Ireland, and University of Dublin, Trinity College.

Abbreviations: F, Forward primer; GAPDH, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase; MGB, minor groove-binding; PTC, papillary thyroid carcinoma; R, reverse primer.

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