Background: Thyroid cancer is one of the fastest growing cancer diagnoses in the United States. Non-medullary thyroid cancer accounts for 95% of all thyroid cancer cases. Up to 8% of all non-medullary thyroid cancers are hereditary. Familial non-medullary thyroid cancer (FNMTC) is more aggressive than sporadic disease. No susceptibility gene for FNMTC has been identified. The best approach for screening at risk family members for FNMTC is unknown. This protocol is designed to determine the natural history and best screening strategy for FNMTC, and to identify susceptibility gene(s) for FNMTC. Summary: This is a prospective study of individuals with or at risk for non-medullary thyroid cancer. Individuals will be studied over time within the context of their families in order to quantify prospective risks of cancers in family members, to establish the natural history of FNMTC, define the spectrum of diseases within the families, to identify precursor states, to try to assess the contribution of genetic and environmental components of risk, and to develop effective screening strategies. Our interim analysis of screening at risk individuals shows that the prevalence of thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer is much higher than the general population and these individuals develop thyroid neoplasm at a much younger age. From our preliminary analysis of whole-exome sequencing studies in kindreds with familial non-medullary thyroid cancer, we have identified candidate susceptibility genes which we are currently validating in additional families and performing functional genomic studies to determine their role in tumor cell biology.
