Dr. Fanai's article about epigenetics of thyroid cancer

3 months ago

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What you will read in this article:

Overview of Dr. Fanai's valuable article

Despite the recent advances in understanding the stages of thyroid cancer development, the specific non-genetic mechanisms that cause the tissue to become cancerous have not been fully identified. The effect of genetic changes in the incidence of thyroid cancer has been determined to a large extent. However, the role of DNA methylation (a process in which groups are added to DNA and alter gene activity), especially in the case of tumor suppressor genes, remains a key weakness in existing findings.

Due to this gap, Dr. Fanai from Erfan Hospital, in cooperation with experts from Endocrine Research Center and Atiyeh Hospital, conducted a comprehensive research in this field during five years, which we will discuss in detail below. It should be noted that this article was presented by Dr. Fanai at the Thyroid Cancer Congress in 2025 and was also accepted and published in Biomolecules magazine.

Hif article

The main purpose of presenting this article by Dr. Fanai and his colleagues is to show what effects the changes occurred at the gene level can have on the behavior of the thyroid tumor (aggravation or its creation). The purpose of this highly specialized article was that, based on finding these changes, experts can prevent the occurrence of thyroid tumors or reduce the severity of tumor metastasis by applying interventions in the future. This work required confirmation of the results of this paper by reputable journals. With the acceptance of the above research by Biomolecules magazine, it is possible for the research results to be available to centers and pharmaceutical companies so that they can prepare the necessary drugs to intervene at the gene level and reduce the risk and severity of thyroid cancers.

Title and general characteristics of the research:

Title: Evaluation of the diagnostic effectiveness of Kwak-TIRADS and Bethesda systems in thyroid nodule malignancy: a five-year study with BRAF gene mutation analysis in an Iranian population group
Speakers at the Thyroid Cancer Congress in 2025: Dr. Seyed Ahmad Fanai
Research Centers: Thyroid Surgery Department, Irfan and Irfan Niayesh Hospital, Atiyeh

Research method and patient characteristics:

This research was done retrospectively and in collaboration with three hospitals.
Information related to patients who underwent surgery in 2017-2018 has been followed up until 2023.
The number of 356 adult patients who underwent thyroidectomy were included in this study.
77% of these patients were women and their average age was 42 years

The main content of the research

Did you know that some events at the gene level of the cell can cause a thyroid tumor or increase the intensity of its spread? This specialized article examines these events. In fact, this research examines epigenetic changes. The term epigenetics means the changes that occur in the activity of genes; But they leave the DNA of the cell intact.

These changes, such as adding chemical groups to DNA without changing the genetic sequence, somehow change the genes' instructions for the cell. This mechanism allows the cell to know which genes should be turned on and which genes should be turned off. In fact, epigenetics deals with the important issue of what other events can cause diseases in addition to the genetic characteristics that are in DNA.

The method of collecting samples in this research

To conduct this research, the researchers first took samples from 64 patients who underwent thyroid surgery in 2015 to 2017 and followed them up to 2023. These samples included malignant thyroid nodules (papillary and follicular cancers) as well as benign nodules. Next, they measured TIMP-3 gene expression using a method called qRT-PCR. Then, to check the methylation status (chemical changes) in DNA, they used another advanced method called bisulfite sequencing PCR. The samples were also tested genetically, and the results of these tests were provided to the International Journal of Biomolecules for review.

Summary of main findings

Environmental factors such as air pollution and toxins, smoking, taking some drugs, etc. can all cause epigenetic changes. Environmental factors are one of the most important factors that can cause methylation on the DNA level of the cell. Having said that, if environmental factors can cause methylation to increase or decrease, then experts can also produce drugs that control this process and intervene in the occurrence of thyroid cancer or its severity.

This article paves the way to intervene in cell DNA methylation, which will prevent the occurrence of thyroid cancer or reduce the spread and metastasis of cancerous glands.

Last word

The world of genetics is more complicated than you think. In this valuable research, Dr. Fanai and his colleagues succeeded in deciphering one of the most important mechanisms of thyroid tissue cancer by carefully examining the hidden layers of epigenetics. The key findings of this research show that TIMP-3 gene methylation changes can act as a biomarker to distinguish between benign and malignant nodules. This discovery is beyond a mere scientific finding; Because it opens a new window towards early and more accurate diagnosis of tumors and paves the way for the production of targeted drugs. With this research, researchers can focus on curbing these changes and thus revolutionize the path of future treatments.

You can download the main file of the article below.

Download the PDF file of the article

1404-07-02

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