ret rearrangements in Japanese pediatric and adult papillary thyroid cancers.
Oncogenic rearrangements of the ret proto-oncogene (ret/PTC) are found uniquely in papillary thyroid carcinomas. The prevalence of ret/PTC in these tumors varies widely, from 0% to 87%, among patient series from different geographical regions. The differences in the prevalence of ret rearrangement have been ascribed to age, genetic, and/or environmental factors. The very high prevalence of ret/PTC in tumors arising in children after the Chernobyl nuclear accident has generated speculation that this oncogene may be an indicator of overt or inadvertent radiation exposure. In Japan, the prevalence of ret activation is reportedly quite low (0% to 9%). Here we examined the frequency of ret rearrangements in papillary carcinomas from Japanese adults and children by means of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) followed by Southern hybridization. Ret rearrangements were detected in 4 of 11 (36%) tumors from the adult population, and in 3 of 10 (30%) pediatric tumors. One child with a solid variant papillary carcinoma had a ret-PTC3 rearrangement, further supporting the association between the solid variant histotype and this particular rearrangement of ret. The present data do not support a major geographic difference in the prevalence of ret/PTC rearrangements in papillary carcinomas between Japan, the United States, and Italy.
Motomura
T
T
The First Department of Internal Medicine, Nagasaki University School of Medicine, Japan.
Nikiforov
Y E
YE
Namba
H
H
Ashizawa
K
K
Nagataki
S
S
Yamashita
S
S
Fagin
J A
JA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D015321:Gene Rearrangement; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D051096:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ret; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics*; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D029721:Drosophila Proteins; C000715470:MAS1 protein, human; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D051096:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ret; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; C416649:Ret protein, Drosophila