Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 27, 2026

The Soft Agar Colony Formation Assay
Published on: October 27, 2014
WNT10A/β‑catenin pathway in tumorigenesis of papillary thyroid carcinoma
Tianyi Dong1, Zhun Zhang2, Wenhong Zhou3
1School of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250012, P.R. China.
Abstract:
Papillary thyroid carcinoma is the most common thyroid cancer and the incidence is increasing. Aberrant activation of the WNT/β‑catenin pathway plays an important role in carcinogenesis. In the present study, microarray analysis was employed to compare tissues from papillary thyroid cancer and adjacent normal tissues to determine candidate genes facilitating tumor invasion. The result demonstrated that genes involved in WNT/β‑catenin signaling pathway were activated in papillary thyroid cancer, WNT10A expression was found to be upregulated >4-fold. The variations in gene expression were verified in tissues obtained from other papillary thyroid cancer patients. Molecular mechanism exploration in thyroid cells showed that enhanced WNT10A/β‑catenin signaling pathway activation promoted cell proliferation and migration. The promotion was validated by RNA interference of WNT10A and LEF1 expression. Moreover, results from flow cytometry demonstrated that WNT/β‑catenin signaling pathway activation reduced the percentage of late apoptotic thyroid cells. Conclusively, the results suggest for the first time that WNT10A/β‑catenin signaling pathway plays a crucial role in human papillary thyroid cancer.
Related Concept Videos
Catenins
Catenins in Cell Junctions
Catenins bind to cell adhesion molecules such as cadherins and link them to different cytoskeletal proteins depending on the type of cell junction. At the...
Canonical Wnt Signaling Pathway
Non-Canonical Wnt Signaling Pathways
Cadherins in Tissue Organization
Cell Sorting During Development
Cell sorting plays an...
mTOR Signaling and Cancer Progression
The mTOR pathway or the...
The Retinoblastoma Gene
The first-ever tumor suppressor gene called Rb was identified in retinoblastoma - a rare eye tumor in children. In inherited forms of the disease, a child inherits one defective copy of the Rb gene, which predisposes them to retinoblastoma. However,...

