title: The familial counterparts of follicular cell--derived thyroid tumors.
abstract: The follicular cell-derived thyroid cancers (termed nonmedullary thyroid cancers-NMTCs) occur mostly sporadically, but intriguingly, NMTC has the highest familial risk among all cancer sites. This epidemiological observation is strengthened by the clinical occurrence of NMTC in familial aggregation (FNMTC) and by the detection of chromosomal loci in linkage with the disease phenotype. FNMTC loci have been proposed at 14q, 1q21, 19p13.2, 2q21, 8p23, 8q24, 1q21, and 6q22, but to date, no causative mutations have been linked to FNMTCs. In this review, the authors focus on the clinical, morphological, and molecular aspects that characterize familial tumors. Some morphological patterns may alert for a familial disease. FNMTCs share several of the somatic molecular changes associated with sporadic tumors. New genes affected by somatic changes have been disclosed within regions harboring FNMTC loci.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of the University of Porto-IPATIMUP, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Prazeres
authors.forename: Joana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Torres
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Soares
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sobrinho-Simões
mesh_terms: D018263:Adenocarcinoma, Follicular / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D040941:Heredity; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology