Sox2 Promotes Tumor Metastasis By Stimulating The Process Of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition

Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL Ectopic expression of SOX2 has been reported in a variety of tumor tissues and contributes to cell proliferation and tumorigenesis by transcriptional regulation of the target genes; however the role of SOX2 in tumor metastasis and the underlying mechanisms remain largely elusive. Here we used immunohistochemistry to analyze the expression of SOX2 in the tissues of human breast and lymph nodes and found that SOX2 was highly expressed in breast cancer tissues and the metastasised lymph node, also the expression of SOX2 was closely correlated with the TNM stage and histological grade. We further demonstrated that SOX2 improved the migration and invasion properties of breast cancer and prostate cancer cells by facilitating the process of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Investigation of the molecular mechanism revealed that SOX2 regulated EMT by β-catenin signaling pathway. Our findings prove that SOX2 plays a pivotal role in the metastasis of human breast cancer and prostate cancer and suggest that SOX2 has the potential to be developed as the diagnosis marker for breast and prostate cancer metastasis. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1488. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-1488