Prevalence of RET/PTC rearrangement in benign and malignant thyroid nodules and its clinical application.
Endocr J
; 58(1): 31-8, 2011.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-21173509
ABSTRACT
Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is the primary means to distinguish benign thyroid nodules from malignant ones. About 20% of FNAC yields indeterminate results leading to unnecessary or delayed surgery. Many studies of tissue samples, the majority of which are retrospective advocate testing for RET rearrangements as a diagnostic adjunctive tool in thyroid nodules with indeterminate cytological findings. Because of the uncertain prevalence of RET rearrangements, its utility as a tumor marker is still controversial. The goal of this study was to establish the prevalence and the utility of testing for RET rearrangements in FNAC suspicious of cancer in a clinical setting. In this prospective study, we analysed a large series of thyroid aspirates by RT-PCR only and Southern blot on RT-PCR products for type 1 and 3 RET rearrangements. Results were compared with clinical findings, cytological diagnosis and final histopathology. By the higher sensitive Southern-blot on RT-PCR method, RET rearrangements were present in 36% of papillary thyroid carcinomas (RET/PTC-1, 12%; RET/PTC-3, 20%; both, 4%) and of 13.3% of benign nodules. By means of RT-PCR only, RET rearrangements were disclosed only in 14.3% of PTC and in 3.6% of benign nodules. No significant correlation was found between RET rearrangements and clinicopathological features of patients. These results indicate that molecular testing of thyroid nodules for RET/PTC must take into account of its high prevalence in benign nodules, inducing false positive diagnoses when the highly sensitive assay Southern-blot on RT-PCR is used. Its searching by means of RT-PCR only, has a specificity superior of conventional cytology and can be used to refine inconclusive FNAC.
Buscar no Google
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Carcinoma Papilar
/
Nódulo da Glândula Tireoide
/
Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-ret
Tipo de estudo:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Endocr J
Assunto da revista:
ENDOCRINOLOGIA
Ano de publicação:
2011
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Itália