The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has retained a rudimentary Hedgehog (Hh) signalling pathway; Hh and Smoothened (Smo) homologs are absent, but two highly related Patched gene homologs, ptc-1 and ptc-3, and 24 ptc-related (ptr) genes are present. We previously showed that ptc-1 is essential for germ line cytokinesis. Here, we report that ptc-3 is also an essential gene; the absence of ptc-3 r...

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is often clinically multifocal. In this study, the clinicopathological characteristics of a total of 347 PTC patients treated between 2006 and 2007 were investigated in order to assess the risk factors for tumor recurrence in patients with multifocal PTC. Of all the PTC cases reviewed, 35 (10%) were categorized as multifocal PTC. Patients with multifocal PTC we...

Squamous cell differentiation (SCD) may occur in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) only at metastatic sites. We have studied cytokeratin CK5/6 and P63 along with TTF1 (thyroid transcription factor 1)  and B-Raf (V-Raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B1) immunohistochemical expression in neck lymph node metastases of thyroid PTC showing SCD. The patient (21-years) presented wit...

RET/PTC rearrangements, resulting in aberrant activity of the RET protein tyrosine kinase receptor, occur exclusively in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). In this study, we examined the association between RET/PTC rearrangements and thyroid hormone homeostasis, and explored whether concomitant diseases such as nodular goiter and Hashimoto's thyroiditis influenced this association. A total of 114 ...

OBJECTIVE To investigated the clinicopathologic features of familial papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) compared to sporadic PTC. METHODS Between January 2008 and August 2014, 20 patients who underwent surgery at Liaoning Cancer Hospital and Institute were diagnosed with familial PTC. We compared the clinicopathologic characteristics between familial PTC and sporadic PTC. RESULTS The prevale...

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common type of thyroid malignancy and includes several histological variants. Patients suffering from PTC usually have a good outcome. However, a group of PTC patients still encounter high rates of recurrence and mortality. The BRAFV600E mutation is the most common genetic alteration identified in PTC, ranging from 29 to 83%, with the average rate a...

Wu, S. Vincent, Monica C. Chen, and Enrique Rozengurt. Genomic organization, expression, and function of bitter taste receptors (T2R) in mouse and rat. Physiol Genomics 22: 139–149, 2005. First published May 10, 2005; 10.1152/physiolgenomics.00030.2005.—Mammalian type 2 taste receptors (T2R) are a family of G protein-coupled receptors that mediate bitter signals in taste cells. In the present s...