Loss of heterozygosity in papillary and follicular thyroid carcinoma: a mini review.

Inactivation of tumor suppressor genes is an important mechanism in the development of most cancers. This can be detected by determining loss of heterozygosity (LOH) on highly polymorphic loci on chromosomes. Many investigations to determine LOH in papillary and follicular thyroid carcinoma have been performed using bulk tissue which was fresh, snap frozen, or has been formalin-fixed/paraffin-embedded. Loss of heterozygosity is more frequently encountered in follicular than papillary carcinoma. Laser Capture Microdissection (LCM) may be useful to ascertain if there is a pattern of LOH for various histologic forms and variants of thyroid carcinoma.