Transcriptomic-Based Master Regulators Screening in Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

MIRANDA, LUCAS; GEYSELS, ROMINA CELESTE; SOSA, EZEQUIEL JORGE; SCHUSTER, CLAUDIO DAVID; SALUSTRI, GUIDO; MARTÍ, MARCELO ADRIÁN; NICOLA, JUAN PABLO

Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

Congreso; XVII LATS (XVII LatinAmerican Thyroid Society Congress); 2019

LATS (Latin American Thyroid Society)

Often presented as a painless nodule on the thyroid gland, thyroid cancer is the most frequent endocrine neoplasm and its incidence has increased steadily during the last decades. Nevertheless, its associated death rate has decreased globally as a consequence of a significant improvement in its diagnosis, follow-up and treatment. Originated on the follicular cells of the gland, the papillary (PTC) variant is the most frequently found among patients. As is the case in other types of cancer as well, Its main known genetic cause resides in mutations on BRAF and RAS, genes that encode for enzymes that play an active role regulating the MAP kinase/ERK signalling pathway, which affects cell division and differentiation, among others. Having in mind that gene expression profiles in a cellular context are the reflection of a specific regulation program, the current project aims to analyse the difference in gene expression between BRAF-like and RAS-like PTC cells and controls, using RNAseq expression data (both publicly available and generated in the lab). By reflecting the obtained differential expression signatures on an inferred gene regulatory network, it is possible to determine a small group of transcription factors called "Master Regulators" (MR) that control and determine cell transformation in this specific case.