Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Nov 7;13(21):5567.
doi: 10.3390/cancers13215567.

Papillary Thyroid Cancer Prognosis: An Evolving Field

Salvatore Ulisse  1 , Enke Baldini  1 , Augusto Lauro  1 , Daniele Pironi  1 , Domenico Tripodi  1 , Eleonora Lori  1 , Iulia Catalina Ferent  1 , Maria Ida Amabile  1 , Antonio Catania  1 , Filippo Maria Di Matteo  1 , Flavio Forte  2 , Alberto Santoro  1 , Piergaspare Palumbo  1 , Vito D'Andrea  1 , Salvatore Sorrenti  1
Affiliations
Review

Papillary Thyroid Cancer Prognosis: An Evolving Field

Salvatore Ulisse et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Over the last few years, a great advance has been made in the comprehension of the molecular pathogenesis underlying thyroid cancer progression, particularly for the papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), which represents the most common thyroid malignancy. Putative cancer driver mutations have been identified in more than 98% of PTC, and a new PTC classification into molecular subtypes has been proposed in order to resolve clinical uncertainties still present in the clinical management of patients. Additionally, the prognostic stratification systems have been profoundly modified over the last decade, with a view to refine patients' staging and being able to choose a clinical approach tailored on single patient's needs. Here, we will briefly discuss the recent changes in the clinical management of thyroid nodules, and review the current staging systems of thyroid cancer patients by analyzing promising clinicopathological features (i.e., gender, thyroid auto-immunity, multifocality, PTC histological variants, and vascular invasion) as well as new molecular markers (i.e., BRAF/TERT promoter mutations, miRNAs, and components of the plasminogen activating system) potentially capable of ameliorating the prognosis of PTC patients.

Keywords: BRAF; TERT promoter; TNM; estrogen receptor; miRNA; molecular pathogenesis; plasminogen activating system; prognosis; therapy; thyroid cancers; tumor molecular profiling.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
miRNA biogenesis and function.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Depiction of the urokinase plasminogen activating system. uPA, urokinase plasminogen activator, uPAR, uPA receptor, PAI-1, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1. As it may be appreciated in the figure, plasmin induces extracellular matrix degradation directly and indirectly, through the activation of extracellular matrix bound MMPs (matrix metalloproteinases). Similarly, plasmin may activate latent mitogenic and motogenic growth factors associated with the extracellular matrix, thus promoting tumor cell proliferation and invasion.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Siegel R.L., Miller K.D., Jemal A. Cancer statistics, 2019. CA Cancer J. Clin. 2019;69:7–34. doi: 10.3322/caac.21551. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bray F., Ferlay J., Soerjomataram I., Siegel R.L., Torre L.A., Jemal A. Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries. CA Cancer J. Clin. 2018;68:394–424. doi: 10.3322/caac.21492. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Trimboli P., Ulisse S., Graziano F., Marzullo A., Ruggieri M., Calvanese A., Piccirilli F., Cavaliere R., Fumarola A., D’Armiento M. Trend in Thyroid Carcinoma Size, Age at Diagnosis, and Histology in a Retrospective Study of 500 Cases Diagnosed Over 20 Years. Thyroid. 2006;16:1151–1155. doi: 10.1089/thy.2006.16.1151. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Davies L., Welch H.G. Increasing Incidence of Thyroid Cancer in the United States, 1973–2002. JAMA. 2006;295:2164–2167. doi: 10.1001/jama.295.18.2164. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Davies L., Morris L.G., Haymart M., Chen A.Y., Goldenberg D., Morris J., Ogilvie J.B., Terris D.J., Netterville J., Wong R.J., et al. American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and American College of Endocrinology Disease State Clinical Review: The Increasing Incidence of Thyroid Cancer. Endocr. Pract. 2015;21:686–696. doi: 10.4158/EP14466.DSCR. - DOI - PMC - PubMed