Molecular features of thyroid oncocytic tumors

Thyroid oncocytic neoplasms are tumors composed of cells characterized by an aberrant increase of mitochondrial mass. They represent a subset of thyroid tumors whose classification and clinical features has been a matter of controversy for clinicians and pathologists alike. The prevalence of oncocytic tumors in the thyroid gland, the relevance of the issues debated, and the obvious cellular derangement of oncocytic cells, namely a complete deregulation of the mitochondrial mass and metabolism, have spurred many investigators to study the molecular mechanism underlying the genesis of this peculiar cancer phenotype. Their findings, which are unraveling the tumor pathobiology, are the subject of the present review. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.