{
  "abstract": "Background: Although immune activation can occur in both papillary thyroid carcinoma (TC) and nodular goitre (NG), the transcriptional programmes distinguishing malignant from non-malignant immune-rich thyroid tissue remain poorly understood. Methods: In this pilot study, bulk RNA sequencing of 19 specimens (10 TC, 9 NG) allowed classification into four tumour microenvironment (TME) subgroups. Results: Immune deconvolution showed that TC Immune-Enriched tumours were characterised by cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF) enrichment rather than predominant lymphocytic infiltration. Differential expression analysis identified only nine genes distinguishing TC Immune-Enriched from NG Immune-High tissue, suggesting transcriptomic similarity between malignant and benign immune-activated states in this small cohort. To identify tumour-associated stromal programmes, we identified genes shared between immune-enriched versus immune-depleted comparisons in papillary TC and nodular goitre. This yielded a 441-gene candidate tumour-associated stromal programme enriched for collagen-containing extracellular matrix organisation and TGFβ-associated ECM-remodelling pathways, supported by WGCNA and protein-protein interaction analyses. In 456 TCGA-THCA carcinomas, stromal enrichment correlated inversely with thyroid differentiation and was highest in BRAF-like tumours and the tall-cell histological variant. Conclusions: These findings suggest that transcriptomic convergence largely reflects shared inflammatory programmes, whereas stromal remodelling identifies a candidate tumour-associated stromal programme.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Molecular Medicine Center, Department of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry, Medical Faculty, Medical University of Sofia, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria",
    "Department of Endocrinology, Medical Faculty, Medical University of Sofia, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Veronika Petkova",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2905-8084"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Rumyana Dodova"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Kalin Vidinov"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Radka Kaneva",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1437-1393"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dhmbd7grdj0tt.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3390/cancers18203406",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13702594/?tool=EBI",
  "id": "dhmbd7grdj0tt",
  "issns": [
    "2072-6694"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/18/20/3406",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2712|Thyroid Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223188155",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13702594/pdf/?tool=EBI",
  "pmcid": "PMC13702594",
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-01",
  "publisher": "MDPI AG",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dhmbd7grdj0tt.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:58Z",
      "native_id": "10.3390/cancers18203406",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/18/20/3406"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:21:31Z",
      "native_id": "PMC:PMC13702594",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13702594"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2712|Thyroid Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment",
      "subfield": "endocrinology-metabolism"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Transcriptomic Convergence Reveals Tumour-Specific Stromal Remodelling in Immune-Enriched Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma",
  "title_text": "Transcriptomic Convergence Reveals Tumour-Specific Stromal Remodelling in Immune-Enriched Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:21:31Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dhmbd7grdj0tt",
  "venue": "Cancers",
  "versions": []
}