Cancer of the Grave: A Rapidly Growing Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer with NRAS and TP53 Mutation: Molecular Understanding and Therapeutic Hopes

Hammam Shereef^1, , Mohamedanwar Ghandour², Mohamed Mustafa³, Ahmed Hashim¹, Omar Nasser Rahal¹, Jeremy Powers⁴, Ruaa Elteriefi¹ and Faisal Musa⁵

¹Department of Internal Medicine, Beaumont Hospital- Dearborn, Michigan, USA

²Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, Wayne State University/ Detroit Medical Center, Detroit, Michigan, USA

³Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Minnesota, USA

⁴Department of Clinical Pathology, Beaumont Hospital- Dearborn, Michigan, USA

⁵Division of Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Beaumont Hospital- Dearborn, Michigan, USA

Cite this paper:
Hammam Shereef, Mohamedanwar Ghandour, Mohamed Mustafa, Ahmed Hashim, Omar Nasser Rahal, Jeremy Powers, Ruaa Elteriefi and Faisal Musa. Cancer of the Grave: A Rapidly Growing Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer with NRAS and TP53 Mutation: Molecular Understanding and Therapeutic Hopes. American Journal of Medical Case Reports. 2021; 9(4):208-212. doi: 10.12691/ajmcr-9-4-1

Abstract

Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is the rarest form of thyroid cancer known to humans. Among the other thyroid neoplasms, ATC is the deadliest, with unified mortality of almost 100%. With the advances in thyroid ultrasounds and screening protocols, the incidence of ATC increases, which correlates with the increase in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) that is believed to be the precursor of most ATC. We herein describe a rare case of a 69-year-old Caucasian male with no known past medical or surgical histories who presented with a rapidly growing neck mass that was later confirmed as an undifferentiated anaplastic thyroid carcinoma with a mutation in NRAS and TP53 progressing in two months period into a complete seeding of lungs with metastasis. This case highlights the importance of studying and understanding thyroid oncogenesis's molecular aspects as recently targeted immunotherapy is promising for particular gene mutations by delaying this graving cancer progression.

Keywords:
Anaplastic thyroid cancer NRAS TP53

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