{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]],"date-time":"2026-06-08T18:44:58Z","timestamp":1780944298661,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,29]],"date-time":"2020-12-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1609200000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100005010","name":"Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["project code 21790"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["project code 21790"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100005010","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003197","name":"Agenzia Italiana del Farmaco, Ministero della Salute","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["project code AIFA-2016-02365049"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["project code AIFA-2016-02365049"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003197","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Progetto di Ricerca di Ateneo","award":["PRA_2018_27"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["PRA_2018_27"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Genes"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Copy number variations (CNV) of the RET gene have been described in 30% of Medullary Thyroid Cancer (MTC), but no information is available about their role in this tumor. This study was designed to clarify RET gene CNV prevalence and their potential role in MTC development. RET gene CNV were analyzed in 158 sporadic MTC cases using the ION Reporter Software (i.e., in silico analysis) while the multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification assay (i.e., in vitro analysis) technique was performed in 78 MTC cases. We identified three categories of RET ploidy: 137 in 158 (86.7%) cases were diploid and 21 in 158 (13.3%) were aneuploid. Among the aneuploid cases, five out of 21 (23.8%) showed an allelic deletion while 16 out of 21 (76.2%) had an allelic amplification. The prevalence of amplified or deleted RET gene cases (aneuploid) was higher in RET positive tumors. Aneuploid cases also showed a higher allelic frequency of the RET driver mutation. The prevalence of patients with metastatic disease was higher in the group of aneuploid cases while the higher prevalence of disease-free patients was observed in diploid tumors. A statistically significant difference was found when comparing the ploidy status and mortality. RET gene CNVs are rare events in sporadic MTC and are associated with RET somatic mutation, suggesting that they could not be a driver mechanism of tumoral transformation per se. Finally, we found a positive correlation between RET gene CNV and a worse clinical outcome.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/genes12010035","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,29]],"date-time":"2020-12-29T19:55:25Z","timestamp":1609271725000},"page":"35","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["RET Copy Number Alteration in Medullary Thyroid Cancer Is a Rare Event Correlated with RET Somatic Mutations and High Allelic Frequency"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Teresa","family":"Ramone","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Endocrine Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chiara","family":"Mul\u00e8","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Endocrine Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Raffaele","family":"Ciampi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Endocrine Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Valeria","family":"Bottici","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Endocrine Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Virginia","family":"Cappagli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Endocrine Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alessandro","family":"Prete","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Endocrine Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Antonio","family":"Matrone","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Endocrine Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2774-9161","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paolo","family":"Piaggi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Endocrine Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Liborio","family":"Torregrossa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgical, Medical, Molecular Pathology, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1657-5020","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fulvio","family":"Basolo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Surgical, Medical, Molecular Pathology, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rossella","family":"Elisei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Endocrine Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cristina","family":"Romei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Endocrine Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, 56124 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"117","DOI":"10.1159\/000486422","article-title":"Heterogeneity of Thyroid Cancer","volume":"85","author":"Chmielik","year":"2018","journal-title":"Pathobiology"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Elisei, R., Tacito, A., Ramone, T., Ciampi, R., Bottici, V., Cappagli, V., Viola, D., Matrone, A., Lorusso, L., and Valerio, L. 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