Activated E2F activity induces cell death in papillary thyroid carcinoma K1 cells with enhanced Wnt signaling

PLoS One. 2017 Jun 1;12(6):e0178908. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0178908. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Disruption of Wnt signaling often happens in tumorigenesis, but whether Wnt signaling affects the early stages of thyroid tumor, such as papillary thyroid carcinoma, is still a question, especially in the papillary thyroid carcinoma without genomic RET/PTC mutation. In this study, we demonstrated the important function of Wnt signaling in papillary thyroid carcinoma K1 cells, which have no RET/PTC mutation. We found that K1 cells have enhanced Wnt signaling in comparison to normal thyroid cells. We further demonstrated that K1 cells require the enhanced Wnt signaling for growth and survival. Interestingly, we identified that enhancing E2F activity by either knockdown of Rb or overexpression of Cyclin D1 induces cell death in K1 cells. And we further revealed that the cell death is caused by enhanced oxidative stress. Our studies present a novel cell model to support the key roles of Wnt signaling in early stage of thyroid tumor, and also provide an alternative way to limit thyroid cancer.

MeSH terms

  • Carcinoma / metabolism
  • Carcinoma / pathology*
  • Carcinoma, Papillary
  • Cell Death
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Cell Separation
  • Cell Survival
  • E2F Transcription Factors / metabolism*
  • Flow Cytometry
  • Gene Knockdown Techniques
  • Humans
  • Oxidative Stress
  • Retinoblastoma Protein / genetics
  • Retinoblastoma Protein / metabolism
  • Signal Transduction*
  • Thyroid Cancer, Papillary
  • Thyroid Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Thyroid Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Wnt Proteins / metabolism*

Substances

  • E2F Transcription Factors
  • Retinoblastoma Protein
  • Wnt Proteins

Grants and funding

Support was provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant number: 81000136 (DY received the funding) [http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/]. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.