The mRNAs of transiently expressed proteins such as cytokines and proto-oncogenes are commonly subject to rapid transcriptional activation and degradation. Transcript turnover is determined in part by association of certain proteins with consensus AU-rich motifs (AUUUA) in the 3'-untranslated region of the transcripts. Here we report a modification of differential RNA display (DRD) to detect differentially expressed rapid turnover mRNAs containing AU-rich motifs from thyroid cancer tissues and cell lines. RNA of normal and thyroid cancer tissues was differentially displayed using a 3'anchor primer to the poly(A) tail and an arbitrary 5'primer incorporating an AUUUA sequence. The appropriateness of the strategy was established by its ability to display known early response genes, such as c- fos, using partially degenerate primers. To test whether the novel cDNAs isolated coded for transcripts subject to rapid turnover, they were used as probes for Northern blots of RNA from clonal human thyroid carcinoma cell lines treated for varying periods with either cycloheximide or actinomycin D. A number of novel differentially expressed cDNA fragments were isolated from human papillary thyroid carcinoma tissues, among them a cDNA with zinc finger motifs and homology to other zinc finger proteins. Using this fragment to probe a cDNA library, a full-length cDNA (ZnF20) was isolated that was 4333 bp in length and contained an open reading frame of 1029 amino acids. The ZnF20 cDNA hybridized to multiple transcripts in a thyroid cancer cell line (8.0, 4.5 and 2 kb) that increased after cycloheximide treatment and decayed <2 h after addition of actinomycin D. The ZnF20 mRNA was overexpressed in three of six thyroid papillary carcinomas as compared with paired normal thyroid tissue controls. The data presented here support the use of a targeted DRD approach for the isolation of rapid turnover mRNAs, many of which may be interesting candidate oncogenes.