背景：直到上世纪80年代末，人们对甲状腺癌分子病因知之甚少。作为美国甲状腺协会百年庆祝活动的一部分，我们回顾了为我们当前对甲状腺癌遗传基础的理解作出贡献的历史性发现。总结：发现的速度在很大程度上取决于核酸测序技术、癌症生物学、甲状腺发育、甲状腺细胞信号传导和生长调控方面的科学突破。因此，我们试图将关于甲状腺癌分子遗传学的初步观察与使其成为可能的方法论和科学进展联系起来。结论：常见类型甲状腺癌的主要遗传驱动因子现在已经被相当确定，并且在我们诊断和治疗疾病方面有重要贡献。然而，还存在许多挑战。未来的工作将需要揭示甲状腺癌生态系统的复杂性，这可能是其生物行为和对治疗反应的主要决定因素。

Background: Very little was known about the molecular pathogenesis of thyroid cancer until the late 1980s. As part of the Centennial celebration of the American Thyroid Association, we review the historical discoveries that contributed to our current understanding of the genetic underpinnings of thyroid cancer. Summary: The pace of discovery was heavily dependent on scientific breakthroughs in nucleic acid sequencing technology, cancer biology, thyroid development, thyroid cell signaling, and growth regulation. Accordingly, we attempt to link the primary observations on thyroid cancer molecular genetics with the methodological and scientific advances that made them possible. Conclusions: The major genetic drivers of the common forms of thyroid cancer are now quite well established and contribute to a significant extent to how we diagnose and treat the disease. However, many challenges remain. Future work will need to unravel the complexity of thyroid cancer ecosystems, which is likely to be a major determinant of their biological behavior and on how they respond to therapy.