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Review
. 2018 Aug 8;17(1):116.
doi: 10.1186/s12943-018-0866-1.

Thyroid cancers of follicular origin in a genomic light: in-depth overview of common and unique molecular marker candidates

Natalia Pstrąg  1 , Katarzyna Ziemnicka  2 , Hans Bluyssen  3 , Joanna Wesoły  4
Affiliations
Review

Thyroid cancers of follicular origin in a genomic light: in-depth overview of common and unique molecular marker candidates

Natalia Pstrąg et al. Mol Cancer. .

Abstract

In recent years, thyroid malignances have become more prevalent, especially among women. The most common sporadic types of thyroid tumors of follicular origin include papillary, follicular and anaplastic thyroid carcinomas. Although modern diagnosis methods enable the identification of tumors of small diameter, tumor subtype differentiation, which is imperative for the correct choice of treatment, is still troublesome. This review discusses the recent advances in the field of molecular marker identification via next-generation sequencing and microarrays. The potential use of these biomarkers to distinguish among the most commonly occurring sporadic thyroid cancers is presented and compared. Geographical heterogeneity might be a differentiator, although not necessarily a limiting factor, in biomarker selection. The available data advocate for a subset of mutations common for the three subtypes as well as mutations that are unique for a particular tumor subtype. Tumor heterogeneity, a known issue occurring within solid malignancies, is also discussed where applicable. Public databases with datasets derived from high-throughput experiments are a valuable source of information that aid biomarker research in general, including the identification of molecular hallmarks of thyroid cancer.

Keywords: ATC; Biomarkers; FTC; Molecular markers; NGS; PTC; Thyroid cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

See section “References”, approvals within particular articles included in the literature search.

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not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Overview of thyroid cancer types and their origins
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Genetic changes identified in thyroid cancers of follicular origin. Genes common for all three TC subtypes are marked in red
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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