Circulating levels of PTEN and KLLN in papillary thyroid carcinoma: can they be considered as novel diagnostic biomarkers?

Purpose PTEN and KLLN are two tumor suppressor genes located in 10q23, share a bidirectional promoter and have roles in carcinogenesis. Formerly, the role of PTEN mutations and KLLN epimutations were identified in incidence of thyroid lesions in individuals with Cowden syndrome, a rare autosomal dominant inherited disorder. This study is the first of its type to assess PTEN and KLLN circulating levels in patients with sporadic papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and compare to patients with multinodular goiter (MNG) and healthy individuals.