Molecular Markers for Discrimination of Benign and Malignant Follicular Thyroid Tumors

Vol. 27, No. 4, 2006

Free Abstract Article (References) Article (PDF 190 KB)

Research Article

Molecular Markers for Discrimination of Benign and Malignant Follicular Thyroid Tumors
Mårten Fryknäs^a, Ulrika Wickenberg-Bolin^a, Hanna Göransson^a, Mats G. Gustafsson^{a, b}, Theodoros Foukakis^c, Jia-Jing Lee^c, Ulf Landegren^a, Anders Höög^d, Catharina Larsson^c, Lars Grimelius^{a, d}, Göran Wallin^c, Ulf Pettersson^a, Anders Isaksson^a

Departments of
^aGenetics and Pathology and
^bEngineering Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, and
^cDepartment of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska University Hospital, Solna and
^dDepartment of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden

Address of Corresponding Author

Tumor Biol 2006;27:211-220 (DOI: 10.1159/000093056)

Key Words

Thyroid tumors
Follicular adenomas
Follicular carcinomas
cDNA arrays

Abstract

Objective: To identify molecular markers useful for the diagnostic discrimination of benign and malignant follicular thyroid tumors. Methods: A panel of thyroid tumors was characterized with expression profiling using cDNA microarrays. A robust algorithm for gene selection was developed to identify molecular markers useful for the classification of heterogeneous tumor classes. The study included tumor tissue specimens from 10 patients with benign follicular adenomas and from 10 with malignant tumors. The malignant tumors mainly consisted of clinically relevant minimally invasive follicular carcinomas. The mRNA expression level of a candidate gene, FHL1, was evaluated in an independent series of 61 tumors. Results: 22 gene expression markers were identified as differentially expressed. Several of the identified genes, for example DIO1, CITED1, CA12 and FN1, have previously been observed as differentially expressed in various thyroid tumors. FHL1 was significantly underexpressed in carcinomas compared to adenomas in the independent panel of tumors. The results indicate that a small number of genes can be useful to distinguish follicular adenomas from follicular carcinomas. Conclusions: Our findings clearly corroborate previous studies and identify novel candidate molecular markers. These genes have the potential for molecular classification of follicular thyroid tumors and for providing improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in thyroid malignancies.

Author Contacts

Dr. Anders Isaksson
Department of Genetics and Pathology, Rudbeck Laboratory
Uppsala University
SE-751 85 Uppsala (Sweden)
Tel. +46 18 471 48 68, Fax +46 18 471 48 08, E-Mail anders.isaksson@genpat.uu.se

Article Information

Received: July 30, 2005
Accepted after revision: December 1, 2005
Published online: May 2, 2006
Number of Print Pages : 10
Number of Figures : 3, Number of Tables : 2, Number of References : 46

Medline Abstract (ID 16675914)

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