Telomere Length in Neoplastic and Nonneoplastic Tissues of Patients with Familial and Sporadic Papillary Thyroid Cancer

Introduction: Many studies have found an association between altered telomere length (TL), both attrition or elongation, and cancer phenotype. Recently, we have reported that patients with the familial form of papillary thyroid cancer (FPTC) have short telomeres in blood leucocytes. Aim: To evaluate relative TL (RTL) at somatic level in neoplastic and nonneoplastic tissues of patients with FPTC (n = 30) and sporadic PTC (n = 46). Methods: RTL was measured by quantitative PCR in neoplastic thyroid tissues, in the corresponding nontumor thyroid tissues (normal contralateral thyroid), and in other extrathyroidal tissues (lymph nodes, muscles, or buccal mucosa). RTL was also measured in adenomas and hyperplastic nodules. In a subset of samples, telomerase expression was measured by quantitative PCR. Results: Mean ± sd RTL of FPTC patients was short in neoplastic thyroid tissues (0.87 ± 0.2) with no difference from the normal contralateral thyroid tissues (0.85 ± 0.11) and extrathyroidal tissues (0.85 ± 0.31)....