Abstract
Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death among gynecologic cancers and is the fifth leading cause of all cancer-related deaths among women. The development of novel molecular targets is therefore important to many patients. Recently, the SRY-related transcription factor SOX2 has been widely reported to be involved in multiple pathophysiological diseases, including maintenance of stem cell characteristics and carcinogenesis. Up to now, SOX2 has been mainly shown to promote the development of cancer, although its inhibitory roles in cancer have also been reported. However, the role of SOX2 in ovarian cancer is largely unknown. In the present study, we detected the expression of SOX2 in 64 human serous ovarian carcinoma (SOC) tissues and paired corresponding metastatic specimens using immunohistochemistry. The results showed that the expression of SOX2 in primary tumors is much lower than that in the corresponding metastatic lesions. We further found that SOX2 overexpression promotes proliferation, migration and invasion, while inhibiting adhesion abilities of SOC cells. Finally, we found that SOX2 targets Src kinase, a non-receptor tyrosine kinase that regulates cell migration, invasion and adhesion in SOC cells. Together, these results suggested that Src kinase is a key molecule in SOX2-mediated migration and invasion of SOC cells.
Highlights
Ovarian epithelial cancer accounts for 80–90% of all ovarian cancers and is the leading killer among all gynecological malignancies [1]
To clarify the role and underlying mechanisms of SOX2 in ovarian epithelial cancer, we examined the expression of SOX2 in serous ovarian carcinoma(SOC)and matched metastatic tissues, as well as in SOC cell lines
Ovarian cancer tissue samples from 64 patients were used in this study, and the expression of SOX2 was analyzed in these tissues by using immunohistochemical (IHC) staining
Summary
Ovarian epithelial cancer accounts for 80–90% of all ovarian cancers and is the leading killer among all gynecological malignancies [1]. Widespread metastases are the main causes for poor prognosis of patients with ovarian cancer. Studying of the metastatic mechanisms of ovarian cancer has been a focus worldwide. SOX2 was shown to be involved in a series of malignancies. Numerous studies have shown that SOX2 promotes cell proliferation, migration, invasion and tumor metastasis in several tumor types such as glioblastomas [3], colorectal cancer [4], prostate cancer [5], breast cancer [6,7] and osteosarcomas [8]. High expression levels of SOX2 correlate with tumor progression or poor prognosis of multiple cancers. The tumor-suppressive role of SOX2 was reported in gastric cancer [9], and squamous cell lung cancer [10]
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