Publications
Prevalence, Molecular Landscape and Clinical Impact of DICER1 and DGCR8 Mutated Follicular-Patterned Thyroid Nodules
Abstract
Mutations in micro-RNA (miRNA) regulators DICER1 and DGCR8 have recently been uncovered, revealing a potential novel mechanism driving thyroid tumor development. However, the true frequency of these hotspot mutations in follicular-patterned thyroid tumors (FTs) and their relation to established driver gene events remains elusive.A total of 440 FTs from two institutions were interrogated for DICER1, DGCR8, and RAS family hotspot mutations using Sanger sequencing. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) was also performed to identify additional driver gene aberrations in DICER1/DGCR8-mutant cases. Subsets of cases were further analyzed using miRNA expression profiling, and key dysregulated miRNAs were validated as markers of DICER1 mutations using qRT-PCR analysis. The TCGA database was also probed for DICER1/DGCR8 mutations and miRNA dysregulation.14 (3.2%) and 4 (1%) FTs harbored DICER1 and DGCR8 hotspot mutations respectively in the combined cohort, and no cases with normal tissue available were found to exhibit a constitutional variant. Two DGCR8-mutant cases also harbored oncogenic RAS mutations. WES analysis did not identify additional driver gene events in DICER1/DGCR8-positive cases. Comprehensive miRNA expression profiling revealed a unique pattern of dysregulated miRNAs in DICER1/DGCR8-mutant cases compared to wild-type lesions. Moreover, DICER1-mutant cases showed a remarkable reduction of 5' arm miRNAs, findings which were corroborated in the TCGA cohort.DICER1 and DGCR8 hotspot mutations are rare in unselected cohorts of FTs, and mutated cases exhibit a specific miRNA profile. While DGCR8 mutations may co-exist with established RAS gene alterations, FTs with DICER1 variants were devoid of other driver gene events.
Product Used
Variant Libraries
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