Regarding mast cells in tumors, a previous study showed that the presence of mast cells in ATC correlates with tumor aggressiveness and that mast cells induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition in thyroid cancer cell lines, mainly by activating CXCL8 in the AKT/SLUG pathway (Visciano et al., 2015). This evidence concerns the gene SNAI2 and thyroid cancer.