Genomic profiling of primary and metastatic thyroid cancers Journal Article


Authors: Máximo, V.; Melo, M.; Zhu, Y.; Gazzo, A.; Sobrinho Simões, M.; Da Cruz Paula, A.; Soares, P.
Article Title: Genomic profiling of primary and metastatic thyroid cancers
Abstract: The genetic repertoire of primary thyroid cancers (TCs) is well documented, but there is a considerable lack of molecular profiling in metastatic TCs. Here, we retrieved and analyzed the molecular and clinical features of 475 primary and metastatic TCs subjected to targeted DNA sequencing, from the cBioPortal database. The cohort included primary and metastatic samples from 276 papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs), 5 follicular thyroid carcinomas, 22 Hürthle cell carcinomas (HCCs), 127 poorly differentiated thyroid carcinomas (PDTCs), 30 anaplastic thyroid carcinomas (ATCs) and 15 medullary thyroid carcinomas. The ATCs had the highest tumor mutational burden and the HCCs the highest fraction of the genome altered. Compared to primary PTCs, the metastases had a significantly higher frequency of genetic alterations affecting TERT (51% vs 77%, P < 0.001), CDKN2A (2% vs 10%, P < 0.01), RET (2% vs 7%, P < 0.05), CDKN2B (1% vs 6%, P < 0.05) and BCOR (0% vs 4%, P < 0.05). The distant metastases had a significantly lower frequency of BRAF (64% vs 85%, P < 0.01) and a significantly higher frequency of NRAS (13% vs 3%, P < 0.05) hotspot mutations than the lymph node metastases. Metastases from HCCs and PDTCs were found to be enriched for NF1 (29%) and TP53 (18%) biallelic alterations, respectively. The frequency of subclonal mutations in ATCs was significantly higher than in PTCs (43% vs 25%, P < 0.01) and PDTCs (43% vs 22%, P < 0.01). Metastatic TCs are enriched in clinically informative genetic alterations such as RET translocations, BRAF hotspot mutations and NF1 biallelic losses that may be explored therapeutically.
Keywords: genetics; mutation; carcinoma, papillary; pathology; distant metastasis; genomics; thyroid neoplasms; papillary carcinoma; thyroid papillary carcinoma; b raf kinase; thyroid tumor; proto-oncogene proteins b-raf; anaplastic thyroid carcinoma; somatic mutations; copy number alterations; dna sequencing; humans; human; thyroid carcinoma, anaplastic; thyroid cancer, papillary; thyroid cancers
Journal Title: Endocrine-Related Cancer
Volume: 31
Issue: 2
ISSN: 1351-0088
Publisher: Bioscientifica Ltd  
Date Published: 2024-02-01
Start Page: e230144
Language: English
DOI: 10.1530/erc-23-0144
PUBMED: 38015791
PROVIDER: scopus
DOI/URL:
Notes: Article -- Source: Scopus
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MSK Authors
  1. Andrea Maria Gazzo
    53 Gazzo
  2. Yingjie Zhu
    30 Zhu