Evaluation of potential diagnostic and prognotic serological markers for the differentiated cancer of the thyroid

• Grant number: 08/07466-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: September 01, 2009
• End date: February 28, 2011
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Medical Clinics
• Principal Investigator: Laura Sterian
• Grantee: Marjory Alana Marcello
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Médicas (FCM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is notorious for its clinical and pathological variety. Although it is relatively rare, DTC is considered a public health problem because an important part of population presents thyroid nodules. On the other hand, although most cases of DTC have a good outcome, it is important to identify high risk cases. Hence, the identification of diagnostic and prognostic markers is imperative. The quantification of the expression of Thyroid Peroxidase (TPO) in circulating tumor cells in the peripheral blood, as well as the levels of Galectin-3 (Gal-3) and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) in serum could be used as markers for early diagnostic an prognostic, becoming important tools in the establishment of different therapeutic strategies and increasing the cure rates. This project intends to identify BRAF gene mutation and to analyze the mRNA expression of TPO and the levels of Gal-3 and VEGF in peripheral blood of patients with DTC, comparing these expressions between cancer patients, benign thyroid nodules and healthy individuals. The data obtained will be compared with other markers investigated by our group in order to evaluate their clinical utility.