High-accuracy Detection of Preoperative Thyroid Nodules Using Combination of BRAFV600E Mutation and TMPRSS4 mRNA Level.
BACKGROUND
Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is the most common epithelial thyroid tumor, accounting for more than 80% of all thyroid cancers. Though the fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) represents as the golden standard for the diagnostics of thyroid nodules, there is a ∼25% risk of indeterminate cytological features. TMPRSS4 is a newly found transmembrane serine protease which was overexpressed in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC).


AIMS
The aim of this study was to determine its potential as a diagnostic marker to improve the diagnostic accuracy of thyroid cancer.


METHODS
We used pyrosequencing and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCT) approaches to examine BRAFV600E mutation and TMPRSS4 mRNA level in FNAB specimens of thyroid nodules. The detection and analysis were respectively applied to training group with 91, and test group with 88 samples.


RESULTS
We demonstrated that PTC patients had an increased TMPRSS4 mRNA level as compared with benign subjects. The diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of TMPRSS4 were 93.33, 100, and 96.70%, respectively. Notably, compared with BRAFV600E mutation testing alone, combining with TMPRSS4 mRNA level significantly increased the diagnostic sensitivity and accuracy.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings indicated BRAFV600E mutation combination with TMPRSS4 mRNA analysis can dramatically improve the sensitivity and accuracy of preoperative diagnosis of thyroid nodules.
['Zhang|Yanfang|Y|', 'Zhang|Zhaoxia|Z|', 'Ma|Jingjing|J|', 'Pu|Jun|J|', 'Hou|Peng|P|', 'Yang|Qi|Q|']
D000328:Adult D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008565:Membrane Proteins D008875:Middle Aged D009154:Mutation D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf D012333:RNA, Messenger D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity D012697:Serine Endopeptidases D000077273:Thyroid Cancer, Papillary D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms D016606:Thyroid Nodule
Thyroid nodules TMPRSS4 Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) Fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) BRAF(V600E) mutation