Papillary thyroid carcinoma is the most common thyroid cancer and the incidence is increasing. Aberrant activation of the WNT/β‑catenin pathway plays an important role in carcinogenesis. In the present study, microarray analysis was employed to compare tissues from papillary thyroid cancer and adjacent normal tissues to determine candidate genes facilitating tumor invasion. The result demonstrated that genes involved in WNT/β‑catenin signaling pathway were activated in papillary thyroid cancer, WNT10A expression was found to be upregulated >4-fold. The variations in gene expression were verified in tissues obtained from other papillary thyroid cancer patients. Molecular mechanism exploration in thyroid cells showed that enhanced WNT10A/β‑catenin signaling pathway activation promoted cell proliferation and migration. The promotion was validated by RNA interference of WNT10A and LEF1 expression. Moreover, results from flow cytometry demonstrated that WNT/β‑catenin signaling pathway activation reduced the percentage of late apoptotic thyroid cells. Conclusively, the results suggest for the first time that WNT10A/β‑catenin signaling pathway plays a crucial role in human papillary thyroid cancer.