Lack of association between autonomously functioning thyroid nodules and germline polymorphisms of the thyrotropin receptor and Gαs genes in a mild to moderate iodine-deficient Caucasian population

Mutations of the thyrotropin receptor (TSHR) and/or Gαs gene have been found in a number of, but not all, autonomously functioning thyroid nodules (AFTNs). Recently, in a 15-year-old girl with a hyperfunctioning papillary thyroid carcinoma, we found two somatic and germline single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs): a SNP of the TSHR gene (exon 7, codon 187) and a SNP of Gαs gene (exon 8, codon 185). The same silent SNP of the TSHR gene had been reported in patients with AFTN or familial non-autoimmune hyperthyroidism. No further data about the prevalence of the two SNPs in AFTNs as well as in the general population are available in the literature.