Expressional deregulations of RET/PTC genes and different nutritional factors playing crucial role in the development of thyroid cancer in Pakistani female subjects

Q: What endocrine cancer subtype is primarily addressed in the study?

The study focuses on thyroid cancer, with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) forming about 80%–90% of thyroid cancers.

Q: How were RET/PTC gene expression levels measured?

RNA was extracted from thyroid cancer and adjacent normal tissues using the TRIzol method, followed by cDNA synthesis and quantitative real-time PCR to assess expression deregulation of RET/PTC1 and RET/PTC3.

Q: Which dietary factors were associated with higher thyroid cancer risk?

Increased thyroid cancer risk was associated with meat consumption and dairy products.

Sep 22, 2026

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Thyroid cancer, particularly papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), represents the dominant endocrine malignancy, and diet-related habits are suggested to influence carcinogenesis. This study analyzes how nutritional factors and aberrations in RET/PTC expression relate to thyroid cancer development in Pakistani females. Clinical and demographic data are collected via questionnaire, and tissue samples are analyzed using TRIzol RNA extraction, cDNA synthesis, and quantitative real-time PCR with SPSS statistical testing.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background

Aims

Methodology

Results

Conclusion

Introduction

Khan et al. BMC Cancer (2026) 26:818 BMC Cancer [https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-026-16144-6](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12885-026-16144-6) RESEARCH Open Access Expressional deregulations of RET/PTC genes and different nutritional factors playing crucial role in the development of thyroid cancer in Pakistani female subjects Rashida Khan 1*, Nafeesa Kainat2, Aayesha Riaz3, Shazia Shamas4, Zahid Manzoor3, Yasmeen Sher2, Samina Asghar2, Sidra Mumtaz2, Sadaf Batool5 and Ruqia Mehmood Baig2* Abstract Background The most common endocrine malignancy occurring in the human population is thyroid cancer (TC), and its subtype papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) constitutes about 80%-90% of all thyroid cancers. It is implicated that certain dietary habits are playing important role in carcinogenesis. It is also suggested through genetic studies that the key step in the pathogenesis of thyroid cancer is the Rearrangements during transfection (RET) . Aims This study was planned to analyze the role of both dietary habits and RET/PTC aberrations in the Pakistani population. Methodology Data about clinical, demographic hallmarks, and nutritional factors were collected through a questionnaire. Thyroid cancer tissue samples were collected along with adjacent normal samples. RNA was extracted through the TRIzol method, and cDNA was synthesized. The samples were checked for their expression deregulationsof RET/PTC1 and RET/PTC3 through quantitative Real-Time PCR compared to normal controls. Data were analyzed statistically using SPSS. Results Stage 1 &2 thyroid cancer patients were frequent. Increased risk of thyroid cancer was observed to be associated with meat consumption and dairy products. Increased expression of RET/PTC1 and RET/PTC3 at significant levels (p-value p < 0. 05) was observed in thyroid cancer tissue as compared to normal and MNG specimens. Mean fold-change values exceeded 4-fold for RET/PTC1 and 6-fold for RET/PTC3, and both genes showed statistically significant overexpression (RET/PTC1: p < 0. 0001; RET/PTC3: p = 0 . 0001) . Conclusion The present study postulates that some of the major nutritional factors can be significantly associated with thyroid carcinogenesis. While the RET/PTC rearrangements are the prime concern in thyroid cancer in the Pakistani population. The higher expression of RET/PTC1 and RET/PTC3 identified in thyroid cancer patients presents the potential target to be down regulated customized molecular therapies. *Correspondence: Rashida Khan [dr.rashidakhan85@gmail.com](dr.rashidakhan85@gmail.com)[ ](dr.rashidakhan85@gmail.com)Ruqia Mehmood Baig[dr.ruqia@uaar.edu.pk](dr.ruqia@uaar.edu.pk) Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s) 2026. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit [http://creati](http://creati)[vecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/](vecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.)[.](vecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.) Khan et al. BMC Cancer (2026) 26:818 Page 2 of 11 Keywords Thyroid cancer, RET, PTC1 & RET, PTC3, RET,

FAQs

What endocrine cancer subtype is primarily addressed in the study?

The study focuses on thyroid cancer, with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) forming about 80%–90% of thyroid cancers.

How were RET/PTC gene expression levels measured?

RNA was extracted from thyroid cancer and adjacent normal tissues using the TRIzol method, followed by cDNA synthesis and quantitative real-time PCR to assess expression deregulation of RET/PTC1 and RET/PTC3.

Which dietary factors were associated with higher thyroid cancer risk?

Increased thyroid cancer risk was associated with meat consumption and dairy products.

Sep 22, 2026

Upload by Skyler