Synchronous papillary and follicular thyroid carcinomas: the first retrospective cohort study and literature review.

Background: Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC) contribute to more than 95% of thyroid malignancies. However, synchronous PTC and FTC are less common; it is most commonly discovered incidentally as synchronous malignancies during operation, which adds difficulties to intraoperative decision-making and postoperative treatment. Therefore, we analyzed the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of patients with PTC and FTC in our center. Methods: We conducted a search of single PTC, single FTC, and synchronous PTC/FTC patients who received initial surgery treatment at Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center from 2006 to 2018 and collected paraffin-embedded samples of synchronous patients. Clinicopathological characteristics were collected from the electronic medical record system. Follow-up was performed through telephone contact or medical records. Exome sequencing was performed by ThyroLead panel. Results: Total of 42 synchronous PTC/FTC patients, 244 single FTC patients, and 2,959 single PTC patients were included. It showed a similarity between the clinicopathological features of synchronous thyroid cancer patients and single PTC patients, with a greater proportion of females, higher probabilities of lymph node metastasis, and higher rate of concurrence of Hashimoto's disease. The disease-free survival (DFS) curve indicated a worse prognosis of the synchronous group and single PTC group compared to the single FTC group, who had a propensity for neck lymph node recurrence; however, logistic multivariate regression analysis did not find any factor related to recurrence in the synchronous group. After re-checking pathology, DNA extraction, and quality control, genetic alteration information of 62 samples including primary tumors and metastatic lymph nodes from 35 synchronous cancer patients was displayed. In total, 81 mutations and 1 fusion gene were identified, including mutations related to outcomes and targeted therapy. Besides, some rare mutations in thyroid cancer were found in these patients. Conclusions: To conclude, synchronous PTC/FTC tend to be incidentally discovered during or after operation, behaving more like single PTC. The prognosis of synchronous patients is worse than that of single FTC patients and supplemental cervical lymph node dissection, total thyroidectomy, and postoperative radioiodine therapy should be taken into consideration after diagnosis. The next-generation sequencing (NGS) showed a unique molecular feature of synchronous patients with some rare mutations.

Reference Genes for qPCR-Based miRNA Expression Profiling in 14 Human Tissues.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are promising biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of various diseases. Quantitative PCR is the most frequently used method of measuring expression levels of miRNA. However, the lack of validated reference genes represents the main source of potential bias in results. It is normal practice to use small nuclear RNAs as reference genes; however, they often have variable expression. Researchers tend to prefer the most stable reference genes in each experiment. The review includes reference genes for the following tissue types: gliomas, lung cancer, melanoma, gastric cancer, liver cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, thyroid cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, endometrial cancer, rectal cancer, blood tumors, and placental tissues.

The miRNA Profile in Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Patients with Secondary Myelodysplasia.

Myelodysplastic syndromes are a group of clonal diseases of hematopoietic stem cells and are characterized by multilineage dysplasia, ineffective hematopoiesis, peripheral blood cytopenias, genetic instability and a risk of transformation to acute myeloid leukemia. Some patients with non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs) may have developed secondary myelodysplasia before therapy. Bone marrow (BM) hematopoiesis is regulated by a spectrum of epigenetic factors, among which microRNAs (miRNAs) are special. The aim of this work is to profile miRNA expression in BM cells in untreated NHL patients with secondary myelodysplasia. A comparative analysis of miRNA expression levels between the NHL and non-cancer blood disorders samples revealed that let-7a-5p was upregulated, and miR-26a-5p, miR-199b-5p, miR-145-5p and miR-150-5p were downregulated in NHL with myelodysplasia (p < 0.05). We for the first time developed a profile of miRNA expression in BM samples in untreated NHL patients with secondary myelodysplasia. It can be assumed that the differential diagnosis for blood cancers and secondary BM conditions based on miRNA expression profiles will improve the accuracy and relevance of the early diagnosis of cancerous and precancerous lesions in BM.

Prognostic Markers of Myelodysplastic Syndromes.

Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is a clonal disease characterized by multilineage dysplasia, peripheral blood cytopenias, and a high risk of transformation to acute myeloid leukemia. In theory, from clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential to hematologic malignancies, there is a complex interplay between genetic and epigenetic factors, including miRNA. In practice, karyotype analysis assigns patients to different prognostic groups, and mutations are often associated with a particular disease phenotype. Among myeloproliferative disorders, secondary MDS is a group of special entities with a typical spectrum of genetic mutations and cytogenetic rearrangements resembling those in de novo MDS. This overview analyzes the present prognostic systems of MDS and the most recent efforts in the search for genetic and epigenetic markers for the diagnosis and prognosis of MDS.