Clonal origin analysis of the tumor cells in multifocal papillary thyroid carcinoma with Hashimoto's thyroiditis / 中华普通外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the relationship between Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT) and thyroid papillary carcinoma (PTC) by analyzing the expression of BRAF V600E mutation and (N-,H-,K-) RAS codons 12,13 and 61 mutants in cases of multifocal PTC with HT.Methods 80 tumor samples in 37 multifocal PTC with HT cases,were analyzed for the genotypic changes of BRAF V600E,as well as the (N-,H-,K-)RAS codons 12,13 and 61 mutants by DNA sequencing assay and amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS).Results BRAF V600E mutation was detected in 51 samples and RAS gene mutations was found in 3 samples (N-RAS codon 61 mutant in 2 samples and H-RAS codon 61 mutant in 1 sample).Different clonal origin was present in 20 cases of multifocal PTC with HT (54.1％,20/37).There was no statistical significance (P ＞ 0.05) in the incidence of the difference in the origin of tumor cells,compared with the results (61.7％,37/60) of multifocal PTC without HT in the related literature.Conclusion In more than half of multifocal PTC with HT cases,the tumor cells originate from different clones.Our results do not support the opinion that HT predisposes patients to develop PTC,because HT does not have a significant effect on expression of BRAF and RAS gene mutation in PTC,accordingly HT is more likely to be a part of the host tumor immune response system.