EVIDENCE AGAINST INVOLVEMENT OF APC MUTATION IN PAPILLARY THYROID-CARCINOMA

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is one of several tumours associated with familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), an inherited tumour syndro me which appears to result from germ-line mutation of the APC tumour s uppressor gene. Here we investigate the possibility that somatic mutat ion of APC might play a role in sporadic PTC. 16 cases of PTC together with matched normal tissue were examined by single-strand conformatio n polymorphism (SSCP) analysis, concentrating on the mutation cluster region (MCR) of the APC gene (codons 1286-1513). No evidence of mutati on was observed in any sample. We conclude that APC mutation, at least in the MCR, is not a significant causal mechanism in sporadic PTC.