Expression profiling of a human thyroid cell line stably expressing the BRAFV600E mutation

Abstract

Background/Aim: The BRAFV600E mutation acts as an initiator of cancer development in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Gene expression changes caused by the BRAFV600E mutation may have an important role in thyroid cancer development. Materials and Methods: To study genomic alterations caused by the BRAFV600E mutation, we made human thyroid cell lines that harbor the wild-type BRAF gene (Nthy/WT) and the V600E mutant-type BRAF gene (Nthy/V600E). Results: Flow cytometry and western blotting showed stable transfection of the BRAF gene. In functional experiments, Nthy/V600E showed increased anchorageindependent growth and invasion through Matrigel, compared to Nthy/WT. Microarray analysis revealed that 2,441 genes were up-regulated in Nthy/V600E compared to Nthy/WT. Gene ontology analysis showed that the up-regulated genes were associated with cell adhesion, migration, and the ERK and MAPK cascade, and pathway analysis showed enrichment in cancer-related pathways. Conclusion: Our Nthy/WT and Nthy/V600E cell line pair could be a suitable model to study the molecular characteristics of BRAFV600E PTC.