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Multifocal Fibrosing Thyroiditis and Its Association with Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma Using BRAF Pyrosequencing

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Abstract

Multifocal fibrosing thyroiditis (MFT) is characterized by numerous foci of fibrosis in a stellate configuration with fibroelastotic and fibroblastic centers entrapping epithelial structures. MFT has been proposed as a risk factor for papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) development. We attempted to identify whether MFT showed such molecular changes and could possibly be related to PTC. We identified seven cases of PTC with MFT in our institutional pathology database and personal consult service of one of the authors (VAL) for the years 1999 to 2012. Areas of PTC, MFT, and normal tissue were selected for BRAF analysis. Macro-dissection, DNA extraction and PCR amplification, and pyrosequencing were performed to detect BRAF mutations in codon 600. All of the MFT lesions and normal thyroid tissue were negative for BRAF mutations. Of the seven PTCs analyzed, five (71 %) were negative for BRAF mutations, while two cases were positive. In our study, none of the MFT lesions harbored BRAF mutations, whereas 29 % (two of seven) PTCs in the same gland were positive. Hence, in this small study, we found no evidence that the MFT lesion is a direct precursor to PTC. It is likely an incidental bystander in the process and a reflection of the background thyroiditis.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Amy Ziober, JD for her help in cutting the unstained slides and staining representative slides with hematoxylin and eosin.

Disclosure Statement

This data was presented in part at the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology conference, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, in March 2013. Funding for this manuscript was obtained from the Division of Anatomic Pathology in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Anatomic Pathology, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, 6th Floor Founders Building, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Renee Frank, Zubair W. Baloch & Virginia A. LiVolsi

  2. Division of Laboratory Medicine, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, 7th Floor Gates Building, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Caren Gentile & Christopher D. Watt

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  1. Renee Frank
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  2. Zubair W. Baloch
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  3. Caren Gentile
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  5. Virginia A. LiVolsi
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Correspondence to Virginia A. LiVolsi.

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Frank, R., Baloch, Z.W., Gentile, C. et al. Multifocal Fibrosing Thyroiditis and Its Association with Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma Using BRAF Pyrosequencing. Endocr Pathol 25, 236–240 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12022-013-9289-0

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