For instance, mutations of the gsp and thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor genes are associated with benign hyperfunctioning thyroid nodules and adenomas while alterations of other specific genes, such as oncogenic tyrosine kinase alterations (RET/PTC, TRK) in papillary carcinoma and the newly discovered PAX8/peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma rearrangement, are distinctive features of cancer.
The frequency, if we consider exclusively the papillary carcinomas, is in both cases 12%; (b) show that the TRK oncogene plays a role in the development of a minority of radiation-associated papillary thyroid carcinomas but not in adenomas; and (c) confirm that RET/PTC rearrangements are the major genetic alteration associated with ionizing radiation-induced thyroid tumorigenesis.
Therefore, we have analyzed by different molecular approaches, including Southern blotting, DNA transfection assay on NIH-3T3 cells, and reverse transcription-PCR analysis, six papillary carcinomas from children living in the region of Belarus at the time of the Chernobyl nuclear accident to identify tumor-specific gene rearrangements of the proto-oncogenes RET and TRK, previously found activated in a tumor type-specific manner in papillary thyroid carcinoma.