The expression profiles of genes (TFF3, HGD1, and PLAB) allowed a good prediction for the differentiation of benign thyroid lesions and thyroid cancer starting from cells of FNA; however, this assay showed limitations when applied to discriminate thyroid nodules with undetermined cytology.
However, for cancer prediction, analysis of a minimum of six genes per sample was necessary and allowed correct prediction of a benign thyroid lesion and thyroid cancer with 94% accuracy in the most discriminative set (TFF3/PLAB/TG/ADM3/HGD1/LGALS3).
A 3-gene (PCSK2, PLAB, CCND2) assay has been reported to have high accuracy for distinguishing benign from malignant thyroid tumors that are often indeterminate on fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy.