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Published in: Virchows Archiv 6/2004

01-06-2004 | Original Article

BRAF mutations typical of papillary thyroid carcinoma are more frequently detected in undifferentiated than in insular and insular-like poorly differentiated carcinomas

Authors: Paula Soares, Vítor Trovisco, Ana Sofia Rocha, Tália Feijão, Ana Paula Rebocho, Elsa Fonseca, Inês Vieira de Castro, José Cameselle-Teijeiro, Manuel Cardoso-Oliveira, Manuel Sobrinho-Simões

Published in: Virchows Archiv | Issue 6/2004

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Abstract

Somatic mutations of the BRAF gene (BRAFV599E and BRAFK600E) were found to be closely associated with different histotypes of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). The V599E mutation is highly prevalent in PTC with a papillary or mixed papillary follicular growth pattern, and the K600E mutation is apparently restricted to the follicular variant of PTC. It is usually accepted that thyroid malignancies may follow a progression path from well-differentiated to poorly differentiated (PDC) and undifferentiated (UC) carcinomas. One would expect that at least some of the less differentiated carcinomas would harbour the genetic alterations of pre-existing well-differentiated tumours. In order to find the prevalence of BRAF mutations in PDC and UC, we screened a series of 19 PDCs and 17 UCs, as well as 3 UC-derived cell lines, for both mutation types. The group of PDCs was restricted to the so-called insular and insular-like PDCs, thus excluding PTCs with solid, insular or trabecular foci of growth and PDCs displaying typical PTC nuclei. No BRAF mutations were detected in any of the 19 cases of PDC, whereas 6 of the UCs (35%) and one UC-derived cell line presented the BRAFV599E mutation. The BRAFK600E mutation was not detected in any case. We conclude that UC may progress from BRAFV599E-mutated PTC. The absence of BRAF mutations in our series of PDC supports the assumption that pure insular and insular-like PDCs are more closely related to follicular carcinoma than to PTC.
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Metadata
Title
BRAF mutations typical of papillary thyroid carcinoma are more frequently detected in undifferentiated than in insular and insular-like poorly differentiated carcinomas
Authors
Paula Soares
Vítor Trovisco
Ana Sofia Rocha
Tália Feijão
Ana Paula Rebocho
Elsa Fonseca
Inês Vieira de Castro
José Cameselle-Teijeiro
Manuel Cardoso-Oliveira
Manuel Sobrinho-Simões
Publication date
01-06-2004
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
Virchows Archiv / Issue 6/2004
Print ISSN: 0945-6317
Electronic ISSN: 1432-2307
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-004-1018-0

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