Similar to previously reported PTC-3 variants, long-PTC-1 has been found in a post-Chernobyl papillary thyroid carcinoma confirming that RET/PTC rearrangements other than the classical forms (RET/PTC-1 and -3) are specifically associated with radiation-induced papillary thyroid cancer.
The ret/PTC mutations were identified in 15 tumors (45%), including 8 PTC-1 (8 of 15, 53%), 2 PTC-2 (2 of 15, 13%), 2 PTC-3 (2 of 15, 13%), and 3 (3 of 15, 20%) combined PTC mutations (PTC-1 and PTC-2).
The present data suggest that ret/PTC3 may be typical for radiation-associated childhood PTC with a short latency period, whereas ret/PTC1 may be a marker for later-occurring PTC of radiation-exposed adults and children.
This result suggests a switch in the ratio of ret/PTC3 to ret/PTC1 rearrangements in late (1996) versus early (1991-1992) post-Chernobyl papillary thyroid cancers.
Comparison of the breakpoint regions of ELE1 and RET genes involved in the generation of RET/PTC3 oncogene in sporadic and in radiation-associated papillary thyroid carcinomas.
This previously uncharacterized gene is fused with the tyrosine kinase (tk) domain of the RET proto-oncogene to generate the oncogenic sequence RET/PTC3, thus providing a third example of RET oncogenic activation in papillary thyroid carcinomas.