The Molecular Heterogeneity of NRAS Variants in Thyroid Nodules

NRAS variants are the most common mutations in thyroid nodules with (B)ethesda III/IV cytology. This study aims to characterize co-occurring variants, molecular signatures, and hallmarks of cancer pathways in nodules with NRAS variants.

Retrospective database analysis.

The database of nodules sent for Afirma GSC testing was analyzed for the most common NRAS hotspot mutations, co-occurring mutations, BRAF-RAS score (BRS), thyroid differentiation score (TDS), ERK expression, and activity levels of hallmarks of cancer pathways.

Of 87,817 Afirma GSC-suspicious or BV/VI nodules, 12.6% had NRAS mutations. Of those, 79.7% were NRAS p.Q61R and 19.4% were NRAS p.Q61K. 421 nodules (3.8%) had co-occurring mutations, EIF1AX being the most common (1%, about twice the rate seen alone). Of 872 nodules with TERT promoter mutations (TERTp), 7.8% had concurrent NRAS + TERT mutations (more than twice the rate of TERT alone). The presence of NRAS (+/- co-mutations) was highly RAS-like on the BRS score. Hallmarks of cancer pathways analyzed across NRAS+ nodules, with TERTp profiling, revealed 2 distinct clusters: one with higher inflammatory pathway activity, and another with higher DNA repair, estrogen response, and MYC activity. The latter had a higher rate of BV/VI nodules. NRASp.Q61R was equally distributed across the 2 clusters.

NRAS p.Q61R/K comprises 99% of reported NRAS variants. TERTp is the most frequent co-mutation. Among NRAS p.Q61R/K nodules, there are 2 different clusters of samples based on the activity of hallmarks of cancer pathways. Further studies correlating these clusters with clinical and pathological outcomes are necessary.