Thyroid differentiation profile for differentiated thyroid cancer

in Endocrine Oncology
Authors:
Anthony J. McGoron A McGoron, Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, United States

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Jose M. Garcia J Garcia, Biiological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, United States

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Burulca Uluvar B Uluvar, Computational Medicine, Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany

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Seza A Gulec S Gulec, HCA Florida Aventura Hospital and Medical Center, Aventura, United States

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Correspondence: Anthony McGoron, Email: mcgorona@fiu.edu
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Radioactive iodine (RAI) treatment is an established therapeutic tool for “differentiated thyroid cancers.” The therapeutic effectiveness is linked to the preservation of the iodine concentrating ability of the neoplastic tissue, a unique, inherent quality of a normal thyroid gland. Iodine concentration is a function involving expression of transport proteins and organification. Thyroid differentiation score (TDS) is an integrated quantity, first introduced by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), conveying the relative expression of proteins involved in histogenesis, morphologic and functional differentiation of thyroid tissue. The concept is well-described for expression of metabolic suppression of thyroid cancers associated with RAI-refractoriness. We evaluated the mRNA expressions of thyroid metabolomics-specific genes, comparing normal thyroid to neoplastic tissue in a cohort where patient-specific, paired data was available. Fifty-nine papillary thyroid cancer samples from the TCGA project with matched tumor normal tissue samples were analyzed. Of the 59 samples, 29 contained BRAFV600E mutation, 7 a RAS mutation, 10 a mutation other than BRAF or RAS and 14 with either no mutation or an unknown mutation. Our analysis demonstrated that there was significant downregulation of the RAI theranostic transcriptome, much more significant in BRAF-initiated cancers vs RAS-initiated ones. There was also notable heterogeneity in respective mutational categories where individual assessment of thyroid differentiation profile (TDP) would potentially be clinically relevant for RAI treatment planning. Determination of TDP and development of a theranostic thyroid differentiation score (T-TDS) may have an impact on clinical decision making as to the extent of thyroidectomy and post-operative RAI therapy.

 

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