A study by RISE-Health and FMUP paves the way for more personalized treatment of thyroid tumors in children and young adults up to age 25.
An international group of researchers, led by Sule Canberk, a researcher at the RISE-Health Research Unit and a faculty member at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP), has demonstrated that certain somatic molecular alterations in thyroid tumors are associated with different prognoses for this condition in children, adolescents, and young adults.
The study, published in the European Thyroid Journal, a leading European journal, demonstrated that the molecular profile of thyroid tumors has prognostic value independent of age, sex, and duration of follow-up, contributing to the prediction of clinical outcomes in these patients.
This finding, according to the specialist, indicates that age should not be treated merely as a demographic descriptor in the evaluation of thyroid nodules in children and young people, highlighting that current treatment recommendations for this condition do not explicitly establish a stratified approach within the pediatric population.
“NTRK1/3 and RET [gene] fusions, which are more prevalent in younger patients, were associated with less favorable outcomes, while BRAF V600E, which is more common in adolescence, presented an intermediate risk profile; RAS mutations showed a favorable trend, and in our series, all cases with DICER1 alterations had an excellent response,” reveals Sule Canberk (RISE-Health/FMUP).
According to the scientific study, the molecular characterization of thyroid tumors in early stages of life can contribute to more precise risk stratification, paving the way for more informed clinical decisions, particularly regarding follow-up and personalized therapy.
“In this study, we demonstrated that the type of molecular alteration retains independent prognostic value even after adjusting for age, sex, and duration of follow-up,” explains the endocrine pathologist.
According to the FMUP professor, “the systematic integration of molecular analysis could improve risk stratification and support more informed clinical decisions. This will allow us to go beyond age and clinical staging and better estimate risk based on the tumor’s biological behavior.”
“Based on these results, we are currently developing an algorithmic tool aimed at refining the pre- and postoperative management of patients through the combined use of developmental age groups, cytology, histopathology, molecular profile, and clinical follow-up data,” concludes the researcher.
Titled “The influence of age-independent somatic driver alterations on clinical outcomes in pediatric and young adult thyroid cancer,” the study led by Sule Canberk (RISE-Health/FMUP) was co-authored by Fernando Schmitt (RISE-Health@RISE/FMUP). The research also involved experts from Turkey, Italy, and the U.S.