Recently, by studying the effects of CD71 silencing in FTC and ATC human cell lines, we have demonstrated that CD71 plays a crucial role in a rapid and transient activation of the ERK signalling pathway, which in turn induces a deregulation of genes involved in the aberrant accumulation of intracellular free iron, strongly affecting iron homeostasis in human thyroid cancer cells [41]. This evidence concerns the gene TFRC and thyroid cancer.