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Query: UMLS:C0007097 (
carcinoma
)
152,788
document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)
Since the association of RET proto-oncogene mutations and medullary thyroid carcinoma in children there has been much discussion regarding timing of surgery. Our study group was formed from a brother and sister (8 and 5) and 3 brothers (9, 13, 16) selected on the basis of a positive family history for thyroid medullary
carcinoma
. Histological examinations of the thyroidectomy specimens showed that the 8- and 9-year old had microinvasive
carcinoma
and the remaining three had C-cell hyperplasia. Our recommendation is for prophylactic thyroidectomy for children with
RET
proto oncogene mutations at an early age, clearly before age 5.
...
PMID:Prophylactic thyroidectomy in the treatment of thyroid medullary carcinoma. Age for surgery? 1119 46
The TRK protooncogene (NTRK1) encodes a cell-surface transmembrane tyrosine kinase (TK) acting as a receptor for nerve growth factor. Oncogenic potential in thyrocytes results from replacing the 5' portion by regulatory parts of other genes, leading to constitutive TK expression. In Italy, human papillary thyroid
carcinoma
(PTC) shows a frequent activation (50%) of the TK receptor genes NTRK1 and
RET
. Both genes undergo oncogenic rearrangements by the same mechanism. We previously reported high frequency (6/11) of rearrangement of the
RET
protooncogene in Chinese PTCs. Wide differences in the frequency (0-10.9%) of the NTRK1 rearrangement in PTCs have been reported in different populations. To investigate the frequency of TRK protooncogene rearrangement in Chinese thyroid tumors, we performed reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction to amplify specific TRK rearrangement transcripts. We examined thyroid tumors of 40 patients, including 14 papillary carcinomas, 4 follicular carcinomas, 1 Hurthle cell carcinoma, 1 insular
carcinoma
, and 20 nodular goiters. NF874 NIH3T3, NF723 NIH3T3, NF861 NIH3T3, and NF881 NIH3T3 were used as controls for TRK-T3, TRK-T2, TRK-T1, and TRK, respectively. No known TRK protooncogene rearrangements were detected among the 40 thyroid tumors in our studies. We suggest that the TK receptor NTRK1 activation seems less important than
RET
activation in PTCs in the Chinese population.
...
PMID:Low frequency of rearrangement of TRK protooncogene in Chinese thyroid tumors. 1121 46
A case of a patient with an uncommon thyroid
carcinoma
, showing histological and immunohistochemical features of both follicular and parafollicular cells is described. Somatic point mutation (ATG to ACG heterozygotic mutation at codon 918) of the RET proto-oncogene was detected in tumor tissue, as confirmed by immunohistochemical expression of
RET
oncoprotein. Our findings suggest that constitutive RET proto-oncogene activation may be involved in the development of mixed medullary-follicular thyroid
carcinoma
.
...
PMID:RET proto-oncogene mutation in a mixed medullary-follicular thyroid carcinoma. 1122 33
Thyroid nodule genesis may be considered as an amplification of thyroid heterogeneity due to genetic and/or epigenetic mechanisms. We classified the thyroid nodules in five types with distinct histological features: hyperplastic, neoplastic, colloid, cystic and thyroiditic nodules. Hyperplastic: Thyrocyte proliferation is under the control of TSH but several other paracrine and autocrine factors are secreted by follicular cells, the stromal apparatus and the lymphocytes, which are implicated in initiation and perpetuation of thyroid hyperplasia. Growth occurs mainly through TSHR, cAMP and PKA. Constitutive cAMP overproduction has been shown to be due to point mutation of the TSHR or Gs protein, producing overgrowth and hyperfunction. Neoplastic: Several activated oncogenes have been identified in thyroid malignancies. Oncogenes relevant to the thyroid carcinogenesis are: mutated TSHR and gsp (constitutive activation of cAMP); TRK (receptor for NGF);
RET
/PTC (phosphorylation of tyrosine kinase receptor)--an isoform of this oncogene is induced by radiation: ras (it encodes Gs proteins transducing mitogenic signals); and c-MET (receptor for hepatocyte growth factor). The evolution of a differentiated thyroid cancer towards an undifferentiated cancer is due to a mutation of a family of proteins (i.e., p53), which acts as a brake, preventing the genomic instability of cancer. It is suggested that a tumor initiates by
RET
or ras and possibly progresses--as a result of additional mutations and by p53 mutation--to anaplastic
carcinoma
. Colloid: Flattening of the epithelium and dilatation of follicles containing viscous material--made up by a concentrated solution of thyroglobulin (hTg)--is the characteristic of the colloid nodule. A defect of intraluminal reabsorption of hTg has been suggested but not proven. Experimentally, a load of iodine is able to change thyroid hyperplasia to a colloid feature; however, a load of iodine is rarely found in the clinical history of patients. A new clue to the pathogenesis comes from the finding that a relevant part of the colloid (10-20%) is made up of insoluble globules, where hTg is compacted in a polymeric form. It is suggested that stocking hTg into globules is defective in colloid nodules, leading to enormous enlargement of the follicle. Cystic: It is estimated that between 15 and 40% of thyroid nodules are partly or entirely cystic. The 'true cyst' is rare; most of the so-called cystic nodules are 'pseudocysts', which follow necrosis and colliquation. Necrosis issues as an imbalance between growth and the precisely regulated process of angiogenesis. More recently, the VEGF/VPF has been found to be at the origin of recent and recurrent cysts. Immunotoxic and apoptotic mechanisms have also been suggested. Chemical analysis of cystic fluid showed a 'denatured' and 'serum-like' pattern suggesting different mechanisms in the pathogenesis of the pseudocystic thyroid nodules. Thyroiditic: Nodular lymphocytic thyroiditis (NLT) includes two different entities: 1) lymphocyte thyroiditis growing as a nodule in a hyperplastic or normal gland, and 2) lymphocyte thyroiditis associated in the same nodule with other nodular diseases of the thyroid: papillary thyroid
carcinoma
and lymphoma have been found to be associated to chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis.
...
PMID:Pathogenesis of thyroid nodules: histological classification? 1123 84
In the last 10 years, evidence has accumulated that overexpression of Met protein is a distinguishing feature of almost every case of well-differentiated papillary
carcinoma
. Increased expression of the protein is probably due to enhanced transcription of the MET gene and/or to post-transcriptional mechanisms. So far, alterations of the MET gene have not been recognized, but evidence has been provided that activated RAS and
RET
can cause accumulation of MET RNA. Thus, the possibility exists that dysregulation of MET is the final result of different molecular pathways capable of inducing thyroid cell transformation;
RET
rearrangements might account for some of the cases, but the demonstration that the majority of papillary carcinomas do not have recognized alterations of the
RET
gene strongly suggests that MET gene dysregulation can also be achieved through other molecular pathways. Dysregulation of MET causes marked accumulation of Met protein in tumour cells that is promptly detected by immunohistochemistry. Thus, overexpression of Met protein might represent an immunohistochemical marker of papillary
carcinoma
, potentially helpful in problematic cases, but caution is required; moderate expression of Met protein is observed in non-neoplastic thyroid diseases, such as Graves' and Hashimoto's thyroiditis, and reagents active on paraffin sections may have a low affinity and/or low specificity for Met protein, leading to artifactual staining. Met protein-positive papillary
carcinoma
cells may produce hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and may activate HGF through the urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) bound to urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPA-R). Thus, papillary
carcinoma
cells possess the molecular machinery necessary for a productive HGF/Met interaction. In vitro studies have demonstrated that HGF enhances the motility and invasiveness of tumour cells and induces the synthesis and release of chemokines active in the recruitment of dendritic cells. These observations provide a rational basis for the understanding of two distinguishing features of papillary
carcinoma
. First, the tumour is often characterized by early metastatic spread to regional lymph nodes and by multifocal involvement of the gland, which suggests highly invasive behaviour. Second, a prominent peritumoural inflammatory reaction is often observed, which suggests cross-talk between tumour cells and the immune system.
...
PMID:Met protein and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) in papillary carcinoma of the thyroid: evidence for a pathogenetic role in tumourigenesis. 1132 34
The molecular cloning of the t(5;10)(q33;q22) associated with atypical chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is reported. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), Southern blot, and reverse transcriptase- polymerase chain reaction analysis demonstrated that the translocation resulted in an H4/platelet-derived growth factor receptor betaR (PDGFbetaR) fusion transcript that incorporated 5' sequences from H4 fused in frame to 3' PDGFbetaR sequences encoding the transmembrane, WW-like, and tyrosine kinase domains. FISH combined with immunophenotype analysis showed that t(5;10)(q33;q22) was present in CD13(+) and CD14(+) cells but was not observed in CD3(+) or CD19(+) cells. H4 has previously been implicated in pathogenesis of papillary thyroid
carcinoma
as a fusion partner of
RET
. The H4/
RET
fusion incorporates 101 amino acids of H4, predicted to encode a leucine zipper dimerization domain, whereas the H4/PDGFbetaR fusion incorporated an additional 267 amino acids of H4. Retroviral transduction of H4/PDGFbetaR, but not a kinase-inactive mutant, conferred factor-independent growth to Ba/F3 cells and caused a T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma in a murine bone marrow transplantation assay of transformation. Mutational analysis showed that the amino-terminal H4 leucine zipper domain (amino acids 55-93), as well as H4 amino acids 101 to 386, was required for efficient induction of factor-independent growth of Ba/F3 cells. Tryptophan-to-alanine substitutions in the PDGFbetaR WW-like domain at positions 566/593, or tyrosine-to-phenylalanine substitutions at PDGFbetaR positions 579/581 impaired factor-independent growth of Ba/F3 cells. H4/PDGFbetaR is an oncoprotein expressed in t(5;10)(q33;q22) atypical CML and requires dimerization motifs in the H4 moiety, as well as residues implicated in signal transduction by PDGFbetaR, for efficient induction of factor-independent growth of Ba/F3 cells. (Blood. 2001;97:3910-3918)
...
PMID:H4(D10S170), a gene frequently rearranged in papillary thyroid carcinoma, is fused to the platelet-derived growth factor receptor beta gene in atypical chronic myeloid leukemia with t(5;10)(q33;q22). 1138 34
Specific point mutations of the RET proto-oncogene have been demonstrated to be responsible for multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) types 2A and 2B, for familial medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) syndromes, as well as for sporadic MTC. Here we show that nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB is activated in
RET
-associated C-cell
carcinoma
specimens. TT cells, a human MTC cell line expressing MEN 2A type
RET
, display transcriptionally active RelA(p65) in the nucleus. NF-kappaB activity in these cells is attributable to constitutive IkappaB kinase (IKK) activity and high turn over of IkappaBalpha.
RET
harboring the mutations C634R (MEN 2A) or M918T (MEN 2B), in contrast to wild-type
RET
, activates a NF-kappaB-dependent reporter construct upon transient transfection in HeLa cells. We show that the prototype
RET
mutation C634R enhances phosphorylation of IkappaBalpha by IKKbeta but not by IKKalpha.
RET
-induced NF-kappaB and IKKbeta activity requires Ras function but does neither involve the classical mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase nor the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt pathways. In contrast,
RET
-induced NF-kappaB activity is dependent on Raf and MEKK1. Inhibition of constitutive NF-kappaB activity results in cell death of TT cells and blocks focus formation induced by oncogenic forms of
RET
in NIH 3T3 cells. These results suggest that
RET
-mediated carcinogenesis critically depends on IKK activity and subsequent NF-kappaB activation.
...
PMID:Nuclear factor-kappaB is constitutively active in C-cell carcinoma and required for RET-induced transformation. 1138 85
The risk of thyroid papillary
carcinoma
is increased by external radiation particularly in children under 15 years of age as shown by a marked increase in those exposed to radiation after Chernobyl. We were recently confronted in Belgium over a short period with four patients (3 F, 1 M) with papillary thyroid
carcinoma
who were aged 10 years, 2 months, 2 years and 6 years when the Chernobyl accident occurred. We thus raise the question of a possible relationship. The patients were aged 17, 11, 10, 19 years at presentation. They all presented fortuitously over 3 years which was a very unusual increase in our extensive experience in thyroid surgery (62 cases of thyroid cancer among 1014 thyroidectomies in adults vs 4 cases in 18 children since the Chernobyl accident in 1986). Two out of the four patients had psammoma bodies (identifiable on CT scanning and ultrasound) and thyroglobulin autoantibodies (TgAb). The first patient had positive lymph nodes at the time of surgery. The incidence of thyroid cancers in Belarus and Ukraine rose just 4 years after the Chernobyl disaster; because radioactive clouds passed over Belgium, we wonder whether the occurrence of thyroid cancer in our patients could be related to this irradiation. The mechanism of increased incidence of radiation-induced thyroid cancer is thought to be due to rearrangement of the tyrosine kinase domains of the
RET
and TTK genes. The other important similarities in our patients are the presence of psammoma bodies that can be visualized on radiological examination and the presence of TgAb that are more frequent in differentiated thyroid cancers. Whether or not these cases reflect an increased incidence in the population as a whole, clinicians must remain vigilant for this rare but curable cancer in young patients, especially if suggestive radiological features or TgAb are present.
...
PMID:Occurrence of thyroid papillary carcinoma in young patients. A Chernobyl connection? 1139 70
Familial papillary thyroid
carcinoma
(FPTC) is an inherited tumor characterized by a more aggressive phenotype than that of its sporadic counterpart. Its mode of inheritance as well as its genetic and molecular bases are still poorly understood. On the contrary, genetic alterations in sporadic papillary thyroid
carcinoma
(PTC) are better characterized, the most common one involving the activation of the proto-oncogene
RET
through somatic rearrangements. In the present study, we investigated by interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization the presence of
RET
rearrangements in a series of 20 FPTC. We show that one FPTC and the adenoma from the same patient carry a
RET
rearrangement (type PTC1) and that this rearrangement is absent in the germline. Furthermore, we excluded a
RET
haplotype sharing in two brothers of the same family. These results show that
RET
rearrangements can indeed be found in FPTC and confirm that
RET
is not involved in the inherited predisposition to FPTC.
...
PMID:RET rearrangements in familial papillary thyroid carcinomas. 1146 98
Gain-of-function mutations in the gene encoding the receptor tyrosine kinase
RET
have been identified as the aetiological factor for multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2A (MEN2A). MEN2A is a dominantly-inherited cancer predisposition syndrome characterized by medullary thyroid carcinoma, a tumour of the calcitonin-producing thyroid C-cells. There are three isoforms of
RET
: RET9, RET43 and RET51, and although in vitro evidence suggests they vary in cellular transformation activities, little is known about their function in tumorigenesis in vivo. To address this, we used RET51 cDNA to construct mice in which the most frequent MEN2A mutation, Cys-634-Arg, was expressed under the control of the human calcitonin promoter (CT-2A mice). These mice developed C-cell tumours resembling human MTC and follicular tumours resembling human papillary thyroid
carcinoma
(PTC) depending on the founder line examined. One founder line developed compound MTC/PTC at low frequency (8%) and pancreatic cystadenocarcinoma. CT-2A mice also displayed a developmental defect in thyroid follicular structure, in which much of the thyroid was occupied by large irregular cystic follicles thought to be derived from the ultimobranchial body, a developmental precursor of the thyroid gland. The CT-2A mice will provide a suitable model to further study the effects of the MEN 2A
RET
mutation in vivo.
...
PMID:C-cell and thyroid epithelial tumours and altered follicular development in transgenic mice expressing the long isoform of MEN 2A RET. 1149 27
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