Expression And Clinical Significance Of RET/PTC, P53 And BRAF In Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

Objective:To investigate the expression of RET/PTC,P53 and BRAF in papillary thyroid carcinoma(PTC) and their clinical significances.Methods:41 patients diagnosed as PTC at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine were studied.All the cases received lymph node dissection as treatment.The expression of RET/PTC and P53 proteins were evaluated by immunohistochemistry on 40 cases with formalin-fixed,paraffin-embedded tissue sections;while BRAF mutation was detected by PCR analysis and subsequently sequencing on 41 cases.Clinicopathologic relationships were summarized and interpreted with genetic results..Results:(1) RET/PTC rearrangements were highly related with tumor staging of PTC (P＜0.01),but not associated with tumor size or metastasis.There was no statistically significant relationship between p53 immunoreactivity and clinical status was found;(2) BRAF mutation rate was 31.7%(13/41) in the PTC and related with descendiblity(P＜0.05).Conclusion:(1)RET/PTC rearrangements were related with pathological staging of PTC.RET/PTC rearrangements positive cases show higher rates of local extension and lymph node involvement compare to negative cases.(2) no relationship between p53 immunoreactivity and clinical status was found.(3)BRAF mutation were related with descendiblity.Our data suggested that RET/PTC rearrangements and BRAF mutation played important roles in the occurrence,progression and metastasis of PTC,and may act as biomarkers to evaluate the prognosis of PTC.