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Chromatin changes in papillary thyroid carcinomas may predict patient outcome

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Abstract

Purpose

New insights in prognostic predictions are urgently needed for papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). The present study aimed to investigate whether computerized analysis of chromatin texture allows the identification of PTC patients with a poor prognosis.

Methods

We randomnly selected paraffin-embedded blocks from surgical specimens of 103 classic cases of PTC. During follow-up, 68 of the patients were classified as free of disease, whereas 35 presented with recurrences. Characteristics of chromatin were obtained from digitized images of at least 100 randomly selected tumor nuclei per patient. An independent series of 30 goiters was used to validate our observations.

Results

Stage, age and distant metastases were found to serve as independent prognostic factors for survival. In addition, multivariate Cox regression confirmed variable cluster prominence as an independent prognostic factor. By comparing malignant and benign nodules, we found that the PTC lesions presented with higher nuclear perimeters, nuclear areas, Minkowski fractal dimensions, optical densities and nuclear longest chords.

Conclusion

From our results we conclude that, in conjunction with clinical and histopathological data, morphometric data may provide relevant prognostic information in PTC patients.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to State of São Paulo Research Foundation (Fapesp) for financial support. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standard

The experiments comply with the current laws of Brazil.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Cancer Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas (FCM- Unicamp), Rua Tessália Vieira de Camargo 126 - Barão Geraldo, 13083-970, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

    R. C. Ferreira, L. L. Cunha & L. S. Ward

  2. Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

    P. S. Matos

  3. Institute of Computing, University of Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

    R. L. Adam

  4. Laboratory of Investigative and Molecular Pathology (Ciped), Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Campinas (Unicamp), 126, Tessalia Vieira de Camargo Street, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    J. Vassallo

  5. Department of Pathology, ACCamargo Hospital, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil

    F. Soares

  6. Department of Pathology, A. C. Camargo Cancer Hospital, 211, Antonio Prudente Street, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    J. Vassallo

Authors
  1. R. C. Ferreira
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  2. L. L. Cunha
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  3. P. S. Matos
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  4. R. L. Adam
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  5. F. Soares
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  6. J. Vassallo
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  7. L. S. Ward
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to L. S. Ward.

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Ferreira, R.C., Cunha, L.L., Matos, P.S. et al. Chromatin changes in papillary thyroid carcinomas may predict patient outcome. Cell Oncol. 36, 259–264 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13402-012-0116-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13402-012-0116-2

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