title: Low prevalence of the ret/PTC3r1 rearrangement in a series of papillary thyroid carcinomas presenting in Belarus ten years post-Chernobyl.
abstract: After the Chernobyl accident in 1986, there was a significant increase in the incidence of papillary thyroid cancer in fallout-exposed children from Belarus. Radiation-induced rearrangements of chromosome 10 involving the c-ret proto-oncogene have been implicated in the pathogenesis of these cancers. The ret/PTC3r1 rearrangement was the most prevalent molecular lesion identified in post-Chernobyl papillary thyroid cancers arising in 1991 and 1992. We identified the ret/PTC1 rearrangement in 29% of 31 papillary thyroid cancers presenting in Belarus in 1996. In the present report, we examined 14 cases from this series (plus 1 additional case) and found a ret/PTC3r1 rearrangement in only 1 (7%). The prevalence of ret/PTC3r1 in this series is significantly lower than previously reported (p = 0.0006, Fisher exact test). 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.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Genetics and Gytology, Minsk, Belarus.
authors.forename: A V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Pisarchik
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ermak
authors.forename: E P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Demidchik
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Mikhalevich
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Kartel
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Figge
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000235:genetics*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D015321:Gene Rearrangement / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011210:Power Plants; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D051096:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ret; D018788:Radioactive Hazard Release; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics*; D002094:Republic of Belarus; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D014455:Ukraine
chemical_list: 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