The present study established the first link between HMGA1 and TGF-β1 in the regulation of thyroid cancer proliferation and invasion, and provided evidence for the pivotal role of HMGA1 in the progression of thyroid cancer, indicating HMGA1 to be potential biological marker for the diagnosis of thyroid cancer.
Finally, we found increased HMGA1 expression in pituitary and thyroid tumors developed in Rb(+/-) mice, supporting the hypothesis that E2F1 is a novel important regulator of HMGA1 expression and that deregulation of the RB/E2F1 path might significantly contribute to HMGA1 deregulation in cancer.
These results indicate that there is a correlation between the expression of HMG I(Y) and the malignant phenotype of thyroid cancer, suggesting that these proteins may be useful as a marker in thyroid cancer.