Revisiting the transcriptional analysis of primary tumours and associated nodal metastases with enhanced biological and statistical controls: application to thyroid cancer.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Transcriptome profiling has helped characterise nodal spread. The interpretation of these data, however, is not without ambiguities.

Methods

We profiled the transcriptomes of papillary thyroid cancer nodal metastases, associated primary tumours and primary tumours from N0 patients. We also included patient-matched non-cancerous thyroid and lymph node samples as controls to address some limits of previous studies.

Results

The transcriptomes of patient-matched primary tumours and metastases were more similar than those of unrelated metastases/primary pairs, as previously reported in other organ systems. This similarity partly reflected patient background. Lymphoid tissues in the metastases confounded the comparison of patient-matched primary tumours and metas

SUBMITTER: Tarabichi M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4430711 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature