Original Article

You have full text access to this OnlineOpen article

Analysis of differential BRAFV600E mutational status in multifocal papillary thyroid carcinoma

Evidence of independent clonal origin in distinct tumor foci

  1. So Yeon Park MD1,2,
  2. Young Joo Park MD3,4,
  3. Yu Jin Lee MD4,
  4. Hyun Sook Lee BS5,
  5. Sung Hee Choi MD3,4,
  6. Gheeyoung Choe MD1,2,
  7. Hak-Chul Jang MD3,4,
  8. Seong Hoe Park MD2,
  9. Do Joon Park MD4,5,†,*,
  10. Bo Youn Cho MD4,5

Article first published online: 18 SEP 2006

DOI: 10.1002/cncr.22218

Issue

Cancer

Cancer

Volume 107, Issue 8, pages 1831–1838, 15 October 2006

Additional Information

How to Cite

Park, S. Y., Park, Y. J., Lee, Y. J., Lee, H. S., Choi, S. H., Choe, G., Jang, H.-C., Park, S. H., Park, D. J. and Cho, B. Y. (2006), Analysis of differential BRAFV600E mutational status in multifocal papillary thyroid carcinoma. Cancer, 107: 1831–1838. doi: 10.1002/cncr.22218

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Pathology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Korea

  2. 2

    Department of Pathology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

  3. 3

    Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Korea

  4. 4

    Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

  5. 5

    Clinical Research Institute, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea

  1. †

    Fax: (011) 82-2-762-9662

*Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, 28 Yongon-dong, Chongno-gu, Seoul 110-744, Korea

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 3 OCT 2006
  2. Article first published online: 18 SEP 2006
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 24 JUL 2006
  4. Manuscript Revised: 23 JUL 2006
  5. Manuscript Received: 4 APR 2006

Funded by

  • Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Korea (Research Fund). Grant Number: 03-05-005

SEARCH

SEARCH BY CITATION

ARTICLE TOOLS

View Full Article (HTML) Get PDF (247K)

Keywords:

  • multifocal papillary cancers;
  • papillary thyroid cancers;
  • BRAFV600E mutation

Abstract

BACKGROUND.

Papillary thyroid cancers often occur as multiple foci. Multifocal cancers have been considered to have a poor prognosis because they are thought to be the consequence of intrathyroidal spread of the papillary cancer. However, to the authors' knowledge there has been little investigation into whether multifocal thyroid papillary carcinomas arise from the intrathyroidal spread of a single carcinoma or from independent primary tumors. To answer this question, the BRAFV600E mutational status of individual tumor foci was examined. This approach was justified because in the Korean population a high proportion (65%) of papillary carcinomas harbor the BRAF mutation.

METHODS.

DNA was isolated from paraffin-embedded tissue samples of multifocal papillary thyroid carcinoma and the BRAF exon 15 was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The PCR product was digested with restriction endonuclease TspRI to test for the presence of the BRAFV600E (T1799A) mutation.

RESULTS.

In all, 140 cancers from 61 patients diagnosed with multifocal papillary carcinoma were examined. The BRAF mutation was found in all the individual cancers in 29 (47.5%) of the patients (all-positive group) and the mutation was absent in all the individual cancers in 8 (13.1%) patients (all-negative group). However, in 24 (39.3%) patients, some of the individual cancers contained the BRAF mutation, whereas others did not (mixed group).

CONCLUSIONS.

At least 39.3% of the multifocal papillary cancers in the Korean population that were examined could be attributed to independently arising papillary cancers rather than to intrathyroidal spread of single cancers. Cancer 2006. © 2006 American Cancer Society.

View Full Article (HTML) Get PDF (247K)