Villous Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma: a Variant Associated with Marfan Syndrome

Marfan syndrome (MFS) is an autosomal dominant hereditary disorder of connective tissue associated with perturbations in transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) biology, most often due to mutations in FBN1 gene that encodes fibrillin-1. To our knowledge, there is no known association of MFS with thyroid carcinoma. We report a 46-year-old man with known history of MFS who developed an unusual histological variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma. The tumor exhibited a widely invasive florid papillary growth pattern with prominent long villous fronds. Immunohistochemical and molecular analysis revealed a BRAF(V600E) mutation, evidence of aggressive biomarker expression (positivity for HBME-1, cytokeratin 19, galectin-3 and cyclin D1, and loss of p27), and changes associated with TGF-beta-related epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition with active phospho-SMAD signaling. We introduce a unique histological pattern of papillary thyroid carcinoma that is associated with MFS. The combination of BRAF(V600E) mutation in the setting of altered TGF-beta signaling and weak connective tissue integrity associated with MFS may cooperate and possibly be responsible to form this unique villous morphology with epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and invasive growth.