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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: Future Oncol. 2010 Nov;6(11):1771–1779. doi: 10.2217/fon.10.127

Figure 2. Thyroid carcinogenesis model.

Figure 2

Genetic changes that are involved in thyroid carcinogenesis, such as BRAF, RET/PTC and RAS mutations that occur in benign and malignant thyroid neoplasm of follicular cell origin, as well as epigenetic changes that result in gene silencing of thyroid follicular cell growth-regulatory hormones are risk factors for thyroid cancer. Two established risk factors that are associated with higher risk of thyroid cancer and benign neoplasm are radiation exposure and family history of thyroid cancer. However, none of these factors are associated with gender difference in thyroid cancer of follicular cell origin.