TERT and thyroiditis: Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common type of thyroid cancer,1,2 with its incidence steadily increasing globallyication of pathological features and differentiation between benign and malignant thyroid tumors are critical for guiding clinical management and treatment strategies.3,4 RTC is often characterized by genetic alterations, including Rearranged during Transfection (RET) oncogene rearrangements, mutations in the BRAF, telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), and RAS genes, in thyroid carcinogenesis.