title: Loss of c-KIT expression in thyroid cancer cells.
abstract: Papillary thyroid carcinoma is the most frequent histologic type of thyroid tumor. Few studies investigated the role of c-KIT expression in thyroid tumors, suggesting a role for this receptor and its ligand in differentiation and growth control of thyroid epithelium and a receptor loss following malignant transformation. We investigated and correlated c-KIT expression levels and two known markers of thyrocytes differentiation, PAX8 and TTF-1, in malignant and benign cytological thyroid samples. Moreover, we performed functional studies on human papillary thyroid carcinoma cell line to associated c-KIT expression to thyrocytes differentiation and tumor proliferation. c-KIT and PAX8 expression resulted higher in benign samples compared to the malignant ones, and the expression levels of these two genes were significantly correlated to each other. We also observed that c-KIT overexpression led to an increase of PAX8 expression level together with a decrease of proliferation. Furthermore, c-KIT overexpressing cells showed a regression of typical morphological features of malignancy. Taken together these results suggest that c-KIT could be involved in the differentiation of thyroid cells and in tumor progression.
authors.affiliation: FPS-Pisa Science Foundation, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4246-4407
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Franceschi
authors.affiliation: FPS-Pisa Science Foundation, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lessi
authors.affiliation: Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University Hospital of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.|Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, United States of America.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Panebianco
authors.affiliation: FPS-Pisa Science Foundation, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tantillo
authors.affiliation: FPS-Pisa Science Foundation, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: La Ferla
authors.affiliation: FPS-Pisa Science Foundation, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Menicagli
authors.affiliation: FPS-Pisa Science Foundation, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Aretini
authors.affiliation: Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University Hospital of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.|Core Research Laboratory, Istituto Toscano Tumori, Firenze, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Apollo
authors.affiliation: Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University Hospital of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio Giuseppe
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Naccarato
authors.affiliation: Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University Hospital of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Ivo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Marchetti
authors.affiliation: FPS-Pisa Science Foundation, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara Maria
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Mazzanti
mesh_terms: D002277:Carcinoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D006801:Humans; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D000072636:PAX8 Transcription Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000077273:Thyroid Cancer, Papillary; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D000074482:Thyroid Nuclear Factor 1; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C000614412:NKX2-1 protein, human; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D000072636:PAX8 Transcription Factor; C083325:PAX8 protein, human; D000074482:Thyroid Nuclear Factor 1; D014157:Transcription Factors; D019009:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit