Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24476079›Full record

Observational studyThe Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism2014

TERT promoter mutations are a major indicator of poor outcome in differentiated thyroid carcinomas.

Miguel Melo, Adriana Gaspar da Rocha, João Vinagre, Rui Batista, Joana Peixoto, Catarina Tavares, Ricardo Celestino, Ana Almeida, Catarina Salgado, Catarina Eloy and 15 more

Open access · bronzeAbstract readObservational Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Observational study in The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 271 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
271citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
40.1field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

271 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 539 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  5. Cytologic and Surgical Correlation ofInternational journal of surgical pathology · 2026
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  20. Pathological Diagnosis of Thyroid Nodules with Preoperatively DetectedThyroid : official journal of the American Thyroid Association · 2025
    Article

211 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

25 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.

Miguel MeloInstitute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of the University of Porto (M.Me., A.G.d.R., J.V., R.B., J.P., C.T., R.C., A.A., C.S., C.E., P.C., H.P., J.L., V.M., M.S.-S., P.S.), 4200-465 Porto, Portugal; Medical Faculty, University of Porto (A.G.d.R., C.T.), 4200-139 Porto, Portugal; Institute of Biomedical Sciences of Abel Salazar, University of Porto (J.V., A.A.), 4050-313 Porto, Portugal; Department of Pathology and Oncology, Medical Faculty, University of Porto (J.L., V.M., M.S.-S., P.S.), 4200-139 Porto, Portugal; Departments of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism (M.Me., F.C., M.C.) and Pathology (M.J.M.), University and Hospital Center of Coimbra, 3000-075 Coimbra, Portugal; Unit of Endocrinology (M.Me., M.C.), Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, 3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal; School of Allied Health Sciences, ESTSP - Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde do Porto (R.C.), Polytechnic of Porto, 4400-330 Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal; Portuguese Institute of Oncology (H.P.), Coimbra Center, 3000-075 Coimbra, Portugal; Department of Pathology (T.A.), Hospital Pedro Hispano, 4464-513 Matosinhos, Portugal; Department of Pathology (C.L.), Portuguese Institute of Oncology, Porto Center, 4200-072 Porto, Portugal; Center for Investigation of Molecular Pathobiology (M.Mo., B.C., V.L.) and Department of Endocrinology (V.L.), Portuguese Institute of Oncology, Lisbon Center, 1099-023 Lisbon, Portugal; Center for the Study of Chronic Diseases (M.Mo., B.C., V.L.), Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Lisbon, 1099-085 Lisbon, Portugal; Department of Pathology (J.M.C.-T.), Clinical University Hospital, Servicio Gallego de Salud - SERGAS, Medical Faculty, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15705 Santiago de Compostela, Spain; and Department of Pathology (M.S.-S.), Hospital S. João, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal.
Adriana Gaspar da Rocha
João Vinagre
Rui Batista
Joana Peixoto
Catarina Tavares
Ricardo Celestino
Ana Almeida
Catarina Salgado
Catarina Eloy
Patrícia Castro
Hugo Prazeres
Jorge Lima
Teresina Amaro
Cláudia Lobo
Maria João Martins
Margarida Moura
Branca Cavaco
Valeriano Leite
José Manuel Cameselle-Teijeiro
Francisco Carrilho
Manuela Carvalheiro
Valdemar Máximo
Manuel Sobrinho-Simões
Paula Soares
Universidade do Porto · PTInstituto Português de Oncologia Francisco Gentil · PTUniversity of Coimbra · PTUniversity of Lisbon · PTHospital Pedro Hispano · PTServicio Gallego de Salud · ES

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

contextTelomerase promoter mutations (TERT) were recently described in follicular cell-derived thyroid carcinomas (FCDTC) and seem to be more prevalent in aggressive cancers.

objectivesWe aimed to evaluate the frequency of TERT promoter mutations in thyroid lesions and to investigate the prognostic significance of such mutations in a large cohort of patients with differentiated thyroid carcinomas (DTCs).

designThis was a retrospective observational study. SETTING AND PATIENTS: We studied 647 tumors and tumor-like lesions. A total of 469 patients with FCDTC treated and followed in five university hospitals were included. Mean follow-up (±SD) was 7.8 ± 5.8 years.

main outcome measuresPredictive value of TERT promoter mutations for distant metastasization, disease persistence at the end of follow-up, and disease-specific mortality.

resultsTERT promoter mutations were found in 7.5% of papillary carcinomas (PTCs), 17.1% of follicular carcinomas, 29.0% of poorly differentiated carcinomas, and 33.3% of anaplastic thyroid carcinomas. Patients with TERT-mutated tumors were older (P < .001) and had larger tumors (P = .002). In DTCs, TERT promoter mutations were significantly associated with distant metastases (P < .001) and higher stage (P < .001). Patients with DTC harboring TERT promoter mutations were submitted to more radioiodine treatments (P = .009) with higher cumulative dose (P = .004) and to more treatment modalities (P = .001). At the end of follow-up, patients with TERT-mutated DTCs were more prone to have persistent disease (P = .001). TERT promoter mutations were significantly associated with disease-specific mortality [in the whole FCDTC (P < .001)] in DTCs (P < .001), PTCs (P = .001), and follicular carcinomas (P < .001). After adjusting for age at diagnosis and gender, the hazard ratio was 10.35 (95% confidence interval 2.01-53.24; P = .005) in DTC and 23.81 (95% confidence interval 1.36-415.76; P = .03) in PTCs.

conclusionsTERT promoter mutations are an indicator of clinically aggressive tumors, being correlated with worse outcome and disease-specific mortality in DTC. TERT promoter mutations have an independent prognostic value in DTC and, notably, in PTC.

Indexed as

MutationPromoter Regions, GeneticAdenocarcinoma, FollicularAdultAgedCarcinoma, PapillaryFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPrognosisRetrospective StudiesTelomeraseThyroid NeoplasmsTelomeraseTERT protein, human

Identifiers

PMID24476079
PMCPMC4191548
OpenAlexW2128759079

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.