Circular RNAs (circRNAs) or exosomes have been reported to exert key regulatory and/or communication functions in human cancer. Nevertheless, current literature on the effects of exosomal circRNAs on tumor invasion and metastasis in thyroid cancer is incomplete. The role of tumor-derived exosomes in driving in vitro papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) progression and metastasis requires further investigation. In our study, Exosomes were harvested from PTC patient serum and PTC cell culture medium. Gene expression analysis in PTC cell lines and exosomes was performed with quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Transwell, wound healing, Western blot assays, and the cell counting kit-8 were applied for functional analysis. Dual-luciferase reporter assay was used to examine the interaction between hsa_circ_007293 (circ007293), microRNA (miR)-653-5p, and paired box 6 (PAX6). Results showed that circ007293 was enriched in exosomes derived from PTC patient serum and cell culture media. Moreover, circ007293 could enter PTC cells through exosomes, and exosomal circ007293 promoted PTC cell epithelial–mesenchymal transition, invasion, migration, and proliferation. circ007293 knockdown reversed the malignant phenotype of PTC cells in vitro . Additionally, circ007293 could competitively bind with miR-653-5p to regulate PAX6 expression. Notably, miR-653-5p overexpression or PAX6 inhibition suppressed the malignant effects of exosomal circ007293. These results evidenced that exosomal circ007293 induced EMT and augmented the invasive and migratory abilities of PTC cells via the miR-653-5p/PAX6 axis, suggesting that it may serve as a promising biomarker for cancer progression.

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AHNAK nucleoprotein 2 (AHNAK2) has been proposed to have an oncogenic role in various human cancers. However, the functional role of AHNAK2 in thyroid carcinoma (TC) progression has never been explored. In this study, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blot were conducted to evaluate the expression of genes. The functional role of AHNAK2 was elucidated by cell count kit-8, colony-forming assay, wound healing assay, and Transwell invasion assay. We found that AHNAK2 was highly expressed in thyroid carcinoma, and it was tightly correlated with the pathological stage in TC. The mRNA and protein leve ls of AHNAK2 were increased in TC cells. Silencing of AHNAK2 restricted the proliferation, metastasis, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of TC cells. AHNAK2 silencing inhibited the protein -catenin and cyclin D1, and AHNAK2 overexp ression had the opposite effects. Moreover, LiCl or ICG-001 exposure counteracted the effects of AHNAK2 silencing or upregulation on malignant phenotypes of TC cells. In conclusion, the knockdown of AHNAK2 restrained the proliferation, metastasis, and EMT -catenin pathway, providing a new potential mechanism of AHNAK2 in understanding the oncogenesis and progression of TC. Key words: AHNAK nucleoprotein 2; thyroid carcinoma; epithelial-mesenchymal transition;-catenin pathway Thyroid cancer (TC) is one of the common malignancies occurring in the e ndocrine system, and its incidence continues to rise in the past 40 years [1]. Papillary thyroid carcinoma is the most common histological type, occupying about 90% of TC [2]. Although most TC patients can be treated by surgical operation and radioactive iodine therapy, some patients were refractory to radioactive iodine therapy and were easy to metastasize, which results in a higher mortality rate [3]. With the rapid development of molecular biology and genetic engineering, gene therapy has become a novel therapeutic strategy for TC treatment [4][5][6]. Thus, a detailed understanding of the molecular mechanism that drives TC aggravation has considerable significance for seeking a novel therapeutic target for TC.

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This article explores the value of wall F-FDG PET/Cr imaging in the diagnosis of thyroid cancer, studies its ability to distinguish benign and malignant thyroid lesions, and seeks ways to improve the accuracy of diagnosis. The normal control group selected 40 patients who came to our center for physical examination. In the normal control group, the average value of the standard uptake value of both sides of the thyroid was used as the SUV of the thyroid gland and the highest SUV value of the patient's lesion (SUV max) represented the SUV of the lesion. After injection of imaging agent 18F-FD1G, routine imaging was performed at 1h, time-lapse imaging was performed at 2.5 h, and the changes with conventional imaging were compared to infer the benign and malignant lesions. We used SPSS software to carry out statistical analysis, respectively, carrying out analysis of variance, paired t-test, independent sample t-test, and linear correlation analysis. In the thyroid cancer group, 87.5% of the delayed imaging SUV was higher than the conventional imaging SUV, while 83.33% of the benign disease group had a lower SUV than the conventional imaging SUV. 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging has higher sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of recurrence or metastasis in patients with Tg positive. However, it has lower sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of 131I-Dx-WBS negative DTC and 18F-FDG PET/CT. The specificity increases with the increase of serum Tg level. The above results confirm that 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging is of great significance for the diagnosis of recurrence or metastasis in patients; with PET/CT imaging, the results changed 16.13% of the Tg-positive and 131I-Dx-WBS negative DTC patients' later treatment decision. The decision-making and curative effect evaluation have certain value.