Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To mind databases for genome variations of anaplastic thyroid cancers and for screening targeted drugs that may be effective on anaplastic thyroid cancers. METHODS: The cBioPortal database for anaplastic thyroid cancer was used to search for the genes with mutations and copy number variations, and to calculate their genetic variation frequencies. The data were also used to draw survival curves and to identify gene variants that were closely related to patients' survival, to analyze protein interactions, to perform GO enrichment using the STRING database, and to screen potential targeted drugs using the CARE software. RESULTS: The database show that TP53, PI3KCA, ARID2 were the genes with the highest frequencies of genetic variation in anaplastic thyroid cancer. In addition, missense mutations in the TP53 gene were related to the decline in patient survival. GO enrichment analyses show that TP53 participated in the pathogenesis of anaplastic thyroid cancer by regulating biological processes such as DNA damage repair and cell cycle arrest. For the patients with the missense mutations in the TP53 gene, they were sensitive to treatment with Sorafenib, Lapatinib, Ruxotinib and other drugs, but were resistant to Ponatinib and other drugs. CONCLUSION: Missense mutations in the TP53 gene were the key gene variations which affected prognosis of patients with anaplastic thyroid cancer. In addition, Sorafenib and Ruxotinib might be candidate drugs which targeted patients with the missense mutations in the TP53 gene.

Key words: anaplastic thyroid carcinoma, targeted drugs, cBioPortal database, TP53