Autophagy serves a crucial role in the progression of LGMN-regulated thyroid carcinoma. (A) Expression levels of miR-495 in CAL-62 and SW579 cells transfected with pcDNA3.1 or pcDNA3.1-ATG3 were determined by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR analysis. ***P<0.001. (B) Viability of CAL-62 and SW579 cells co-transfected with sh-NC, sh-LGMN-1 or sh-LGMN-1 and pcDNA3.1-ATG3 was evaluated by MTT assay. *P<0.05, **P<0.01. (C and D) Invasive ability of CAL-62 and SW579 cells co-transfected with sh-NC, sh-LGMN-1 or sh-LGMN-1 and pcDNA3.1-ATG3 was assessed by Transwell assay. **P<0.01 and ***P<0.001. (E and F) Tube length of HUVECs treated with conditioned medium from CAL-62 or SW579 cells co-transfected with sh-NC, sh-LGMN-1 or sh-LGMN-1 and pcDNA3.1-ATG3 was assessed by tube formation assay. Magnification, ×200. **P<0.01 and ***P<0.001. Experiments were performed for three biological replicates. LGMN, pseudogene legumain; miR-495, microRNA-495; sh-NC, short hairpin RNA negative control; ATG3, autophagy-related gene 3.