Familial non-medullary thyroid cancer: an update on the genetic and pathologic features

Well differentiated thyroid carcinoma is one of the most increasingly prevalent cancers, and while many are sporadic, some are inherited. These heritable thyroid cancers are grouped as familial non-medullary thyroid carcinoma (FNMTC) and represent approximately 5–10% of non-medullary thyroid carcinomas. While the group of FNMTC is quite heterogeneous, an ever increasing number of attributable genetic changes have been described. In addition to the classic, non-syndromic FNMTC there are also several well defined and characterized genetic syndromes with thyroid cancer as a component. This review will provide an update on the current molecular understanding of both syndromic and non-syndromic heritable thyroid cancer.