ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The prevalence of ret/PTC rearrangement in papillary thyroid carcinomas has been found to have wide variance in different populations. Recent studies, however, have been reporting no significant geographical difference between Asian and Western countries. In addition, there are some arguments about the correlation of ret/PTC expression with clinical aggressiveness. We have performed this study in order to examine the prevalence of ret/PTC-1, -2 and -3 rearrangements in korean papillary throid carcinomas and to ascertain its clinical relevance. METHODS: Fourteen thyroid tumors histologically confirmed to be papillary carcinomas were included in this study. To find rearrangements, we adopted RT-PCR and automated direct sequencing. Initial and follow-up clinical data were obtained form the patients medical records. The plasmid containing ret/PTC-2, and 3 was kindly provided by Dr. Ahn (Ulsan University, Seoul Choonang Hospital). RESULTS: We identified one tumors containing ret/PTC-1(1/14, 7.1%), and two containing ret/PTC-2 (2/14, 14.2%), and could not find ret/PTC-3 rearrangement in other patients (0/11). There was no significant correlation of ret/PTC with clinical aggressiveness. CONCLUSION: We found that the prevalence of ret/PTC rearrangement (3/14, 21.4%) in papillary thyroid carcinomas from Korea was similar to those recently reported in other nations. ret/PTC rearrangement may not affect biological behaviors of papillary thyroid carcinomas.