The genomic landscape of metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma and novel biomarkers for predicting distant metastasis

The genomic landscape of metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma and novel biomarkers for predicting distant metastasis:

Abstract

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common malignancy of the thyroid gland with a relatively high cure rate. Distant metastasis (DM) of PTC is uncommon, but when it occurs, it significantly decreases the survival of PTC patients. However, the molecular mechanisms of DM in PTCs have not been systematically studied. We performed whole exome sequencing and GeneseeqPrime (425 genes) panel sequencing of the primary tumor, plasma and matched white blood cell samples from 20 PTCs with DM and 46 PTCs without DM. We identified somatic mutations, gene fusions and copy number alterations and analyzed their relationships with DM of PTCs. BRAF‐V600E was identified in 73% of PTCs, followed by RET fusions (14%) in a mutually exclusive manner (p<0.0001). We found gene fusions (RET, ALK or NTRK1) (p<0.01) and chromosome 22q loss (p<0.01) were independently associated with DM by both univariate and multivariate analysis. A nomogram model consisting of chromosome 22q loss, gene fusions and three clinical variables was built for predicting DM in PTC (C‐index=0.89). The plasma circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) detection rate in PTCs was only 38.9%, however, it was significantly associated with the metastatic status (p= 0.04), tumor size (p= 0.001) and invasiveness (p= 0.01). In conclusion, gene fusions and chromosome 22q loss were independently associated with DM in PTCs and could serve as molecular biomarkers for predicting DM. The ctDNA detection rate was low in non‐DM PTCs but significantly higher in PTCs with DM.