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Updated: Aug 18, 2026
Spontaneous Murine Model of Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer
Published on: February 3, 2023
Overexpressed in anaplastic thyroid carcinoma-1 (OEATC-1) as a novel gene responsible for anaplastic thyroid
Kazunori Mizutani1, Masamitsu Onda, Shinichi Asaka
1Department of Molecular Biology, Institute of Gerontology, Nippon Medical School, Kanagawa, Japan.
Background:
Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) is one of the most fulminant human malignancies. However, the molecular carcinogenic mechanisms of ATC are understood poorly. Recently, the authors performed a cyclic DNA (cDNA) microarray analysis with 11 anaplastic thyroid carcinoma cell lines (ACLs) and discovered several novel responsible genes for ACLs and ATC. From the extended list, they focused on hypothetical and anonymous genes and investigated a novel gene, named the overexpressed in anaplastic thyroid carcinoma-1 (OEATC-1) gene.
Methods:
To investigate the role of the OEATC-1 gene in ATC carcinogenesis, first, the expression levels of OEATC-1 in ACLs, in various types of carcinoma cell lines, and in normal human tissues were examined with reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis. To explore the effect of OEATC-1 in ATC development, a cell-growth assay was performed with KTA2 cells under OEATC-1 gene silencing using small-interfering RNA (siRNA).
Results:
OEATC-1 was overexpressed significantly in ACLs and in other types of carcinoma cell lines with various expression levels. Conversely, in normal human tissues, OEATC-1 was expressed weakly in placenta, kidney, spleen, thymus, small intestine, and thyroid gland. To evaluate the effects of OEATC-1 on tumor cell growth, gene silencing was caused by transfecting the plasmid-generating siRNA effect to KTA2 cells. Consequently, the silencing of OEATC-1 significantly suppressed the cell growth compared with controls.
Conclusions:
The current results indicated that OEATC-1 may have some oncogenic or cell growth-promoting function in ACL. OEATC-1 is considered a novel responsible gene in ATC.
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