High prevalence of RET/PTC rearrangements in Ukrainian and Belarussian post-chernobyl thyroid papillary carcinomas : A strong correlation between RET/PTC3 and the solid-follicular variant

• Published in: The journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism Vol. 84; no. 11; pp. 4232 - 4238
• Main Authors: THOMAS, G. A, BUNNELL, H, PENTIMALLI, F, SALVATORE, G, FUSCO, A, SANTORO, M, VECCHIO, G, COOK, H. A, WILLIAMS, E. D, NEROVNYA, A, CHERSTVOY, E. D, TRONKO, N. D, BOGDANOVA, T. I, CHIAPPETTA, G, VIGLIETTO, G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bethesda, MD Endocrine Society 01.11.1999
• Subjects: Adolescent; Biological and medical sciences; Carcinoma, Papillary - genetics; Child; Drosophila Proteins; Endocrinopathies; Female; Gene Rearrangement; Humans; Male; Malignant tumors; Medical sciences; Power Plants; Proto-Oncogene Proteins - genetics; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ret; Radioactive Hazard Release; Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases - genetics; Republic of Belarus; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Thyroid Neoplasms - genetics; Thyroid. Thyroid axis (diseases); Ukraine; Belarus; Eastern Europe; Europe; Ukraine; Republic of Belarus; Endocrinopathy; Human; Papillary carcinoma; Pathogenesis; Thyroid diseases; Thyroid gland; Malignant tumor; Genetic determinism; Gene rearrangement; Histological type; Nuclear explosion; Child; Comparative study; Protooncogene
• ISSN: 0021-972X; 1945-7197
• DOI: 10.1210/jc.84.11.4232

A sharp increase in the incidence of pediatric thyroid papillary cancer was documented after the Chernobyl power plant explosion. An increased prevalence of rearrangements of the RET protooncogene (RET/PTC rearrangements) has been reported in Belarussian post-Chernobyl papillary carcinomas arising between 1990 and 1995. We analyzed 67 post-Chernobyl pediatric papillary carcinomas arising in 1995-1997 for RET/PTC activation: 28 were from Ukraine and 39 were from Belarus. The study, conducted by a combined immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR approach, demonstrated a high frequency (60.7% of the Ukrainian and 51.3% of the Belarussian cases) of RET/PTC activation. A strong correlation was observed between the solid-follicular subtype of papillary carcinoma and the RET/PTC3 isoform: 19 of the 24 RET/PTC-positive solid-follicular carcinomas harbored a RET/PTC3 rearrangement, whereas only 5 had a RET/PTC1 rearrangement. Taken together these results support the concept that RET/PTC activation plays a central role in the pathogenesis of thyroid papillary carcinomas in both Ukraine and Belarus after the Chernobyl accident.