Participants and tumor samples

This protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangdong, China. Written informed consent was obtained from all patients at their first visit.

RET/PTC rearrangement was examined in a total of 114 PTC cases enrolled at the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangdong, China between 2011 and 2013. All subjects were unrelated Chinese Han inhabiting southern China. Individuals who had undergone thyroidectomy or had a history of other malignant neoplasms were excluded. Matched cancerous and non-cancerous specimens were obtained from study participants when they underwent surgery. The tissues were excised and immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80°C within 30 min. Study participants included 29 women (25.4%) and 85 men (74.6%), ranging in age from 13 to 76 years (mean age, 41 years).