Skip to content
DraconiticResearch
Search Sources API
186,086 studies31 sourcesUpdated 49 min ago
Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Cancers

Transcriptomic Convergence Reveals Tumour-Specific Stromal Remodelling in Immune-Enriched Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

  • Veronika Petkova1
  • Rumyana Dodova1
  • Kalin Vidinov2
  • Radka Kaneva1
  1. 1Molecular Medicine Center, Department of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry, Medical Faculty, Medical University of Sofia, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria
  2. 2Department of Endocrinology, Medical Faculty, Medical University of Sofia, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria
Read full textPDFDOICite

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.

Related

  1. Hypothesis-generating network toxicology analysis of potential molecular convergence between a polystyrene oligomer proxy and papillary thyroid carcinoma
    Weidong Xie, Jian Tang, Xiaoyu Qian
    Frontiers in EndocrinologyPeer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Full textEndocrinology & metabolismCrossrefEurope PMCPMC
  2. Synchronous laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma and papillary urothelial carcinoma of the bladder: a case report and literature review
    Oxford medical case reportsPeer-reviewedCC BY-NCFull textGeneral medicineEurope PMC
  3. Treatment strategies for unilateral papillary thyroid carcinoma with ipsilateral cervical lymph node metastasis: a narrative review
    Gland SurgeryPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-NDFull textGeneral medicineEurope PMC
  4. Synchronous medullary and papillary thyroid carcinoma with mixed-component lateral cervical lymph node metastases: a case report
    Yifan He, Cheng Fu, Yawen Bai +1
    Gland SurgeryPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-NDFull textGeneral medicineEurope PMC
  5. Multi-omics analysis of GBP2 as a prognostic and immune-associated biomarker in papillary thyroid carcinoma
    Zhanwei Du, Liu Wang, Yixiao Zhang +2
    Translational cancer researchPeer-reviewedCC BY-NC-NDFull textGeneral medicineEurope PMC

Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{petkova2026transcriptomic,
  title = {{Transcriptomic Convergence Reveals Tumour-Specific Stromal Remodelling in Immune-Enriched Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma}},
  author = {Veronika Petkova and Rumyana Dodova and Kalin Vidinov and Radka Kaneva},
  journal = {Cancers},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3390/cancers18203406},
  url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/18/20/3406},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Transcriptomic Convergence Reveals Tumour-Specific Stromal Remodelling in Immune-Enriched Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma
AU  - Veronika Petkova
AU  - Rumyana Dodova
AU  - Kalin Vidinov
AU  - Radka Kaneva
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/01
JO  - Cancers
DO  - 10.3390/cancers18203406
UR  - https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/18/20/3406
AB  - 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.
SN  - 2072-6694
ER  -