Biomarkers to Distinguish Benign From Malignant Thyroid Neoplasm

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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This protocol will evaluate microRNA biomarkers in blood and fine-needle aspirate biopsies (FNAB) of thyroid nodules. MicroRNA profiles will be determined and evaluated for their utility in pre-operative diagnosis, in particular to distinguish benign from malignant throid neoplasms. Post-surgical fresh-frozen thyroid cancer tissue will be assessed for somatic mutations, mRNA, and microRNA expression patterns. FFPE tissue will be used to obtain H&E and unstained slides to specific biomarker results using immunohistochemistry.

Detailed Description
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This protocol requires the collection of blood (5 ml), fine-needle aspirate biopsies (FNAB), and post-surgical thyroid cancer tissue. The post surgical tissue includes fresh-frozen tissue that is considered waste and in excess of that required for pathologic diagnosis, and archived formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue (FFPE). The blood will be used as a substrate for assessing known markers, including microRNA expression patterns that may be useful to predict disease and thyroid cancer morphotype. The FNABs will be used to screen the potential of markers for pre-operative diagnosis. The post-surgical fresh-frozen thyroid cancer tissue will be used to isolate DNA and RNA in order to assess somatic mutations (RAS and PAX8/PPAR-gamma rearrangement) and messenger RNA, and microRNA expression patterns. The FFPE tissue will be used to obtain H&E and unstained slides to validate results using immunohistochemistry. The goal of these studies is to define molecular markers that will accurately distinguish benign from malignant disease and the multiple thyroid cancer phenotypes. Current methods of distinguishing benign from malignant disease requires a detailed post-surgical analysis and no known markers have yet been identified to reliably differentiate the multiple thyroid cancer morphotypes.

Official Title
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Biomarkers in Thyroid Cancer

Conditions
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Cancer of the Thyroid, Neoplasms, Thyroid, Thyroid Adenoma, Thyroid Cancer, Thyroid Carcinoma

Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Patient with palpable thyroid nodule suspicious for thyroid neoplasm Patient selected to undergo fine needle biopsy for cytologic diagnosis Male (18 years of age or older) Female (18 years of age or older)

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years
Maximum Age: 90 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Distinguish follicular adenoma from follicular carcinoma | Biomarkers will be identified to distinguish benign follicular adenoma from follicular carcinoma of the thyroid. | 3 years | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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thyroid cancer, thyroid neoplasm, thyroid adenoma