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The genetic alterations that underlie the progression of follicular thyroid carcinoma towards anaplasia are still largely uncharacterised. We compared the Comparative Genomic Hybridization (CGH) profiles of 20 follicular (FTCs), 12 poorly differentiated (PDTCs) and seven anaplastic thyroid carcinomas (ATCs), in order to identify the chromosomal imbalances potentially associated with cancer progression. We found: (i) when considering that a 'direct' transformation of FTC towards anaplasia occurs, the defined significantly important alterations were the increase of gains at 3q (Po0.05) and 20q (Po0.01), and the increase of losses at 7q (Po0.05) and Xp (Po0.01); (ii) regarding poorly differentiated carcinomas as an intermediate independent entity in the anaplastic transformation of follicular cancers, evidenced as important alterations towards anaplasia, were the proportional decrease in copy sequences at 7p, 7q, 12q and 13q resulting from the significant decrease of DNA gains at 7p and 12q (Po0.05), and the significant increase of losses at 7q and 13q (Po0.05). These results unveil the chromosomal regions where genes of interest in thyroid anaplastic transformation are to be located, and demonstrate that different gene dosage copy sequence imbalances are associated to the 'direct' pathway of transformation of follicular into anaplastic cancers and to the progressive FTC-PDTC-ATC pathway.

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Chromosome studies performed on 31 papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs) revealed clonal numerical and structural abnormalities in 12 tumors. The numerical clonal aberrations found were trisomy 2, trisomy 7, and loss of the Y chromosome. A nonrandom telomeric association, tas(15;16)(p13;p13), was observed in one carcinoma. Structural alterations with a breakpoint at 10q11.2 were detected in two tumors. Other chromosomes involved in rearrangements were chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, and 14. The observation of clonal changes of chromosome 2 [i(2)(q10) and trisomy 2] in two tumors, which were both histologically classified as tall-cell PTC variants, suggests that gain of 2q may be important in the development of this morphological variant.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the anterior two thirds of the tongue in a population living in central and southern Portugal, all treated at Portuguese Institute of Oncology of Lisbon, Francisco Gentil (IPOLFG). Study Design: This study was a retrospective review of all patients who had a histopathological diagnosis of SCC of the anterior two thirds of the tongue and had been treated in the Head and Neck Surgery Unit at the IPOLFG (Lisbon, Portugal), between 1st January 2001 and 31st December 2009. The risk factors evaluated were: gender; age; alcohol consumption; tobacco use; prosthesis use and the carcinoma site. Results: Of the 424 cases analyses, 71% were men. Mean age of occurrence was in 5th decade for males and the 6th decade for females, and the border of the tongue was the most common location. Alcohol consumption and tobacco had a lower impact in women, being the most common etiological factors in the male population. No significant association was observed between patients and the use of a prosthesis. Conclusions: In spite of the consumption of aohol and tobacco starting to decline in certain parts of the world, our findings showed both factors still have a significant impact in male population. Further research should be done to determine etiological factors in females. Key words:Squamous cell carcinoma, tongue, epidemiology, Portuguese population.