diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/django_comment_client/base/tests.py b/lms/djangoapps/django_comment_client/base/tests.py
index 6da8b1bcb7..3091b78217 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/django_comment_client/base/tests.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/django_comment_client/base/tests.py
@@ -316,11 +316,20 @@ class ViewsTestCaseMixin(object):
         Issues a request to update a thread and verifies the result.
         """
         self._setup_mock_request(mock_request)
-        response = self.client.post(
-            reverse("update_thread", kwargs={"thread_id": "dummy", "course_id": self.course_id.to_deprecated_string()}),
-            data={"body": "foo", "title": "foo", "commentable_id": "some_topic"}
-        )
+        # Mock out saving in order to test that content is correctly
+        # updated. Otherwise, the call to thread.save() receives the
+        # same mocked request data that the original call to retrieve
+        # the thread did, overwriting any changes.
+        with patch.object(Thread, 'save'):
+            response = self.client.post(
+                reverse("update_thread", kwargs={"thread_id": "dummy", "course_id": self.course_id.to_deprecated_string()}),
+                data={"body": "foo", "title": "foo", "commentable_id": "some_topic"}
+            )
         self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 200)
+        data = json.loads(response.content)
+        self.assertEqual(data['body'], 'foo')
+        self.assertEqual(data['title'], 'foo')
+        self.assertEqual(data['commentable_id'], 'some_topic')
 
 
 @ddt.ddt
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/django_comment_client/base/views.py b/lms/djangoapps/django_comment_client/base/views.py
index aacc1cc571..9778fb4392 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/django_comment_client/base/views.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/django_comment_client/base/views.py
@@ -243,6 +243,8 @@ def update_thread(request, course_id, thread_id):
 
     course_key = SlashSeparatedCourseKey.from_deprecated_string(course_id)
     thread = cc.Thread.find(thread_id)
+    # Get thread context first in order to be safe from reseting the values of thread object later
+    thread_context = getattr(thread, "context", "course")
     thread.body = request.POST["body"]
     thread.title = request.POST["title"]
     # The following checks should avoid issues we've seen during deploys, where end users are hitting an updated server
@@ -252,7 +254,6 @@ def update_thread(request, course_id, thread_id):
     if "commentable_id" in request.POST:
         commentable_id = request.POST["commentable_id"]
         course = get_course_with_access(request.user, 'load', course_key)
-        thread_context = getattr(thread, "context", "course")
         if thread_context == "course" and not discussion_category_id_access(course, request.user, commentable_id):
             return JsonError(_("Topic doesn't exist"))
         else: