title: Telomere length and telomerase reverse transcriptase gene copy number in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The family risk ratio for papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is among the highest of all cancers. Collectively, familial cases (fPTC) and sporadic cases (sPTC) are not known to show molecular differences. However, one study reported that telomeres were markedly shorter and the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) gene was amplified and up-regulated in germline DNA from patients with fPTC compared with sPTC.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate telomere length and TERT gene amplification and expression in blood samples of fPTC and sPTC patients in a genetically distinct population from the previous study.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 42 fPTC and 65 sPTC patients, quantitative real-time PCR was employed to measure the relative telomere length (RTL) and TERT gene copy number and RNA level. To validate the results using alternative methods, we further studied a subset of the original cohort consisting of randomly chosen fPTC (n = 10) and sPTC (n = 14) patients and controls (n = 21) by assessing both telomere length by flow fluorescent in situ hybridization and TERT gene expression by quantitative real-time PCR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  RTL and TERT gene copy number did not differ between fPTC and sPTC (P = 0.957 and P = 0.998, respectively). The mean RTL and TERT gene expression were not significantly different among the groups of the validation series (P = 0.169 and P = 0.718, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data show no difference between familial and sporadic PTC with respect to telomere length, TERT copy number, or expression in our cohort. Further investigations in additional cohorts of patients are desirable.
authors: Human Cancer Genetics Program, Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, 804 Biomedical Research Tower 460 West 12th Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
authors: Jaroslaw
authors: J
authors: Jendrzejewski
authors: Jerneja
authors: J
authors: Tomsic
authors: Gerard
authors: G
authors: Lozanski
authors: Jadwiga
authors: J
authors: Labanowska
authors: Huiling
authors: H
authors: He
authors: Sandya
authors: S
authors: Liyanarachchi
authors: Rebecca
authors: R
authors: Nagy
authors: Matthew D
authors: MD
authors: Ringel
authors: Richard T
authors: RT
authors: Kloos
authors: Nyla A
authors: NA
authors: Heerema
authors: Albert
authors: A
authors: de la Chapelle
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D018628:Gene Dosage; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D019098:Telomerase / Q000235:genetics*; D016615:Telomere / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D019098:Telomerase