Tescalcin promotes highly invasive papillary thyroid microcarcinoma by regulating FOS/ERK signaling pathway

BACKGROUND: Part of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) has a high risk of tumor invasion and metastasis, which may occur in the regional lymph node metastasis or distant metastasis, severely threatening the life of patients. Invasion and metastasis are tightly involved in the proliferation, migration and invasion in cancer. This study aimed to investigate the role of tescalcin (TESC) in the proliferation, migration and invasion of PTMC. METHODS: The expressions of TESC in PTMC tissues and cells were detected by immunohistochemistry or qRT-PCR. Then, TPC-1 and BHT101 cells transfected with TESC-RNAi were used for the transcriptome sequencing. The proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion of TPC-1 and BHT101 cells were detected by CCK-8, colony formation, flow cytometric assay, transwell migration and scratch test. Moreover, TESC-RNAi transfected TPC-1 and BHT101 cells were subcutaneously injected into mice. Tumor volume and weight were calculated, and the positive rate of Ki-67 was determined by immunohistochemistry. Finally, the levels of c-Fos, ERK1/2 and p-ERK1/2 were determined by western blot. RESULTS: The expressions of TESC in PTMC tissues and cell lines were prominently enhanced. Transcriptome sequencing results showed that c-Fos was decreased in TPC-1 and BHT101 cells transfected with TESC-RNAi, which was associated with multiple different signaling pathways including the MAPK signaling pathway. Furthermore, TESC promoted the progress of PTMC by regulating the expression of c-Fos, which might be associated with the ERK signaling pathway. CONCLUSIONS: TESC promoted the growth and metastasis of PTMC through regulating c-Fos/ERK1/2.