Grant: Operating Grant

Thyroid nodules are very common in Canada and papillary thyroid cancer is the most common thyroid malignancy. Surgical treatment of papillary thyroid cancer in many cases will not provide a cure and the tumor will give rise to metastases within the lymph nodes of the neck. In order to provide better surgical treatment and to guide oncologists when selecting adjuvant therapy, we will use molecular techniques to identify pathways that lead to metastatic disease. Platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) is a well known signaling pathway that is up regulated in a number of malignancies including thyroid cancer. Markers specific to PDGF may be used to determine if certain patients are at risk of lymph node metastases. We have also shown that PDGF may be a target for new therapies. Though our work we believe patients will benefit from earlier diagnosis in thyroid cancer as well as have more options for therapy if they have metastatic disease.