CASP8 and thyroid gland disorder: In a pilot study of 21 thyroid cases by our group (Stephen, Chitale, Narra, Chen, & Sawhney, 2011), RASSF1, CASP8 and NIS were frequently methylated in normal thyroid samples, hyperthyroid nodules and in thyroid cancer cases (matched for presence of normal and tumor tissue from the same biopsy specimen), suggesting these as early changes in thyroid tumorigenesis regardless of cell type.