The role of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine as a potential epigenetic biomarker in a large series of thyroid neoplasm

Modificações da citosina na posição carbono-5 desempenham um papel importante na regulação de expressão génica e a sua desregulação é considerada uma marca distinta de cancro. Estudos recentes demonstram que a 5-hidroximetilcitosina (5-hmC) gerada através da oxidação da 5-metilcitosina (5-mC) está significativamente diminuída em vários cancros humanos. Embora o seu papel na progressão tumoral seja ainda desconhecido, a perda de 5-hmC tem sido proposta como um marcador de malignidade tumoral. Relativamente a tumores da tiróide, a literatura é escassa e os estudos carecem de número de casos e diversidade de histotipos, não permitindo conclusões claras. Neste trabalho, avaliámos os níveis de 5-hmC, por imunohistoquímica, numa série retrospetiva de 318 tumores da tiróide, incluindo tumores benignos, borderline e malignos, classificados de acordo com a 4ª edição da WHO, e correlacionámos a sua expressão com características demográficas e clinicopatológicas de pacientes e tumores, com o objetivo de verificar se os valores de 5-hmC podem ser usados como marcadores diagnósticos, prognósticos e terapêuticos. Os nossos dados mostram uma associação significativa entre a perda de expressão de 5-hmC e a extensão extra tiroideia, estado invasivo/infiltrativo da cápsula, invasão linfovascular, bilateralidade, multifocalidade, malignidade tumoral e uma ligação sem precedente com a morfologia oncocítca. Adicionalmente, num subgrupo de 183 casos de carcinoma papilar da tiróide, também observámos perda estatisticamente significativa de 5-hmC em casos com mutações do promotor TERT e metástases à distância. O nosso estudo evidencia um papel importante para a 5-hmC na tumorigénese da tiróide e indica que os níveis de 5-hmC têm o potencial de serem usados como marcadores de diagnóstico e prognóstico, contudo, são necessários mais estudos para verificar todo o seu potencial.Cytosine modifications at the 5-carbon position play an important role in the regulation of gene expression, and its deregulation is considered a hallmark of cancer. Recent studies demonstrate that 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC) generated through 5-methylcytosine (5-mC) oxidation is significantly depleted in several human cancers. Although its role in tumour progression is still unknown, the 5-hmC loss has been proposed as a marker of tumour malignancy. Concerning thyroid tumours, the literature is scarce, and the studies are sparse in a number of cases and diversity of histotypes, not allowing clear conclusions. In this work, we evaluated the levels of 5-hmC, by immunohistochemistry, in a retrospective series of 318 thyroid tumours, including benign, low-risk, and malignant tumours, classified according to the 4th edition of WHO, and correlated its expression with demographic and clinicopathological features of the patients and tumours, aiming to verify whether 5-hmC levels can be used as a diagnostic, prognostic or therapeutic marker. Our data show a significant association between loss of expression of 5-hmC and extrathyroidal extension, invasive/infiltrative capsule status, lymphovascular invasion, bilaterality, multifocality, tumour malignancy, and an unprecedented link with oncocytic morphology. Additionally, in a subgroup of 183 papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) cases, we also observed a statistically significant loss of 5-hmC in cases with TERT promoter mutations and distant metastasis. Our study evidences an important role for 5-hmC in thyroid tumourigenesis and indicates that 5-hmC levels have the potential to be used as a diagnostic and prognostic marker, however, more studies are needed to fully verify its potential

MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL : A data set of terrestrial, volant, and marine mammal occurrences in P ortugal

Mammals are threatened worldwide, with 26% of all species being includedin the IUCN threatened categories. This overall pattern is primarily associatedwith habitat loss or degradation, and human persecution for terrestrial mam-mals, and pollution, open net fishing, climate change, and prey depletion formarine mammals. Mammals play a key role in maintaining ecosystems func-tionality and resilience, and therefore information on their distribution is cru-cial to delineate and support conservation actions. MAMMALS INPORTUGAL is a publicly available data set compiling unpublishedgeoreferenced occurrence records of 92 terrestrial, volant, and marine mam-mals in mainland Portugal and archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira thatincludes 105,026 data entries between 1873 and 2021 (72% of the data occur-ring in 2000 and 2021). The methods used to collect the data were: live obser-vations/captures (43%), sign surveys (35%), camera trapping (16%),bioacoustics surveys (4%) and radiotracking, and inquiries that represent lessthan 1% of the records. The data set includes 13 types of records: (1) burrowsjsoil moundsjtunnel, (2) capture, (3) colony, (4) dead animaljhairjskullsjjaws, (5) genetic confirmation, (6) inquiries, (7) observation of live animal (8),observation in shelters, (9) photo trappingjvideo, (10) predators dietjpelletsjpine cones/nuts, (11) scatjtrackjditch, (12) telemetry and (13) vocalizationjecholocation. The spatial uncertainty of most records ranges between 0 and100 m (76%). Rodentia (n=31,573) has the highest number of records followedby Chiroptera (n=18,857), Carnivora (n=18,594), Lagomorpha (n=17,496),Cetartiodactyla (n=11,568) and Eulipotyphla (n=7008). The data setincludes records of species classified by the IUCN as threatened(e.g.,Oryctolagus cuniculus[n=12,159],Monachus monachus[n=1,512],andLynx pardinus[n=197]). We believe that this data set may stimulate thepublication of other European countries data sets that would certainly contrib-ute to ecology and conservation-related research, and therefore assisting onthe development of more accurate and tailored conservation managementstrategies for each species. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite thisdata paper when the data are used in publications.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mammals in Portugal: a data set of terrestrial, volant, and marine mammal occurrences in Portugal

Mammals are threatened worldwide, with ~26% of all species being included in the IUCN threatened categories. This overall pattern is primarily associated with habitat loss or degradation, and human persecution for terrestrial mammals, and pollution, open net fishing, climate change, and prey depletion for marine mammals. Mammals play a key role in maintaining ecosystems functionality and resilience, and therefore information on their distribution is crucial to delineate and support conservation actions. MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL is a publicly available data set compiling unpublished georeferenced occurrence records of 92 terrestrial, volant, and marine mammals in mainland Portugal and archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira that includes 105,026 data entries between 1873 and 2021 (72% of the data occurring in 2000 and 2021). The methods used to collect the data were: live observations/captures (43%), sign surveys (35%), camera trapping (16%), bioacoustics surveys (4%) and radiotracking, and inquiries that represent less than 1% of the records. The data set includes 13 types of records: (1) burrows | soil mounds | tunnel, (2) capture, (3) colony, (4) dead animal | hair | skulls | jaws, (5) genetic confirmation, (6) inquiries, (7) observation of live animal (8), observation in shelters, (9) photo trapping | video, (10) predators diet | pellets | pine cones/nuts, (11) scat | track | ditch, (12) telemetry and (13) vocalization | echolocation. The spatial uncertainty of most records ranges between 0 and 100 m (76%). Rodentia (n =31,573) has the highest number of records followed by Chiroptera (n = 18,857), Carnivora (n = 18,594), Lagomorpha (n = 17,496), Cetartiodactyla (n = 11,568) and Eulipotyphla (n = 7008). The data set includes records of species classified by the IUCN as threatened (e.g., Oryctolagus cuniculus [n = 12,159], Monachus monachus [n = 1,512], and Lynx pardinus [n = 197]). We believe that this data set may stimulate the publication of other European countries data sets that would certainly contribute to ecology and conservation-related research, and therefore assisting on the development of more accurate and tailored conservation management strategies for each species. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite this data paper when the data are used in publications