These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed


  • Title: Prognostic significance of RET and NTRK1 rearrangements in sporadic papillary thyroid carcinoma.
    Author: Musholt TJ, Musholt PB, Khaladj N, Schulz D, Scheumann GF, Klempnauer J.
    Journal: Surgery; 2000 Dec; 128(6):984-93. PubMed ID: 11114633.
    Abstract:
    BACKGROUND: The expression of RET/PTC chimeras was demonstrated in 10% to 20% of sporadic papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs), whereas rearrangements of NTRK1 were detected less frequently. Some investigators have hypothesized that RET/PTC activation is preferentially associated with slow-growing tumors of low malignancy in elderly patients; other studies support the contrary. METHODS: Expression analysis of RET and NTRK1 was performed by duplex reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction in tumor tissues from 119 patients with PTC. Samples with suspected rearrangements were further analyzed for the expression of the hybrid messenger RNAs RET/PTC 1 to RET/PTC 7 and for known NTRK1 chimeras, respectively. RESULTS: Seventeen of 119 tumors (14.3%) revealed somatic rearrangements of RET; NTRK1-derived hybrids were demonstrated in 15 cases (12.6%). In patients with RET/PTC chimeras, a statistically not significant tendency towards younger age, lower recurrence rate, and improved survival was observed, despite increased incidence of lymph node metastasis. Cumulative survival analysis of NTRK1 rearrangement-positive individuals demonstrated a worse outcome when compared with patients with expression of RET hybrids (P =.055). CONCLUSIONS: The high incidence of yet uncharacterized NTRK1 hybrid mRNAs in our patient cohort leads to the speculation that activating chromosomal rearrangements of several tyrosine kinase receptors may be a common feature of PTCs and that the expression of distinct chimeras may potentially be of prognostic significance.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]