We have found significant variations of TAp73, DeltaNp73, p53, p14ARF p16INK4a, expressions and correlations between the expressions of those different genes in thyroid cancer.
Twelve of these genes (RASSF1A, p16(INK4A), TSHR, MGMT, DAPK, ERalpha, ERbeta, RARbeta, PTEN, CD26, SLC5A8, and UCHL1) were frequently methylated in UTC (15%-86%) and thyroid cancer cell lines (25%-100%).
The low frequency of LOH in these types of thyroid cancer argues against a role of loss of heterozygosity at the MTS 1 and 2 gene locus in the development of differentiated thyroid neoplasia.
Structural genetic changes of tumor suppressor genes MTS-1/INK4A and MTS-2/INK4B were demonstrated in a variety of human cancers but not in thyroid cancer until now.
As a first step towards investigating its possible role as a tumour suppressor gene in thyroid tumorigenesis, we have carried out a Southern blot analysis of the p16 gene locus in a series of cell lines derived from differentiated human thyroid cancers.