Notably, a fundamental study from He et al. has reported that SLC35F2 promoted the proliferation, migration and lymphatic metastasis of PTC by activating TGF-β signaling (He et al. 2018a), elucidating the critical role of TGF-β signaling in lymphatic metastasis of thyroid cancer. This evidence concerns the gene TGFB1 and thyroid gland carcinoma.