Our research group has recently reported that PATZ1 is downregulated in thyroid cancer tissues compared to normal thyroid and exerts a tumour-suppressor role mainly through the regulation of p53-target genes EpCam, RhoE and Caldesmon, thus resulting in reduced migration and invasion in vitro, as well as mesenchymal-epithelial transition and reduced tumour growth in vivo5. Here, EPCAM is linked to thyroid cancer.