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Sox2 expression predicts poor survival of hepatocellular carcinoma patients and it promotes liver cancer cell invasion by activating Slug

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Abstract

Sox2 is a major transcription factor essential to the stemness characteristics and is associated with various types of cancers. In this study, we investigated the expressions and functional roles of Sox2 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Our data show that high level of Sox2 expression correlates with metastasis and low survival rate in HCC. HCC cells overexpressing Sox2 are characterized by active epithelial-mesenchymal transition and exhibit increased ability of transwell invasion, soft agar colonization, and sphere formation. We also found Sox2 expression was correlated with the transcription activity of SLUG promoter region. These results present novel mechanistic insight into an important role of Sox2 in HCC and suggest a potential application of Sox2 in HCC prognosis and treatment.

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Abbreviations

CSC:

Cancer stem-like cell

EMT:

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition

ESC:

Embryonic stem cell

GFP:

Green fluorescent protein

HCC:

Hepatocellular carcinoma

LV:

Lentivirus

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by China National Key Projects for Infectious Diseases (2012ZX10002-012 and 2012ZX10002-009), National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program: 2011CB910604), and Shanghai Natural Science Foundation (12ZR1405900).

Conflict of interest

None.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China

    Chun Sun, Yan Li, Shu Zhang & Yinkun Liu

  2. Cancer Research Center, Institute of Biomedical Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China

    Lu Sun, Xiaonan Kang, Shu Zhang & Yinkun Liu

Authors
  1. Chun Sun
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  2. Lu Sun
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  3. Yan Li
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  4. Xiaonan Kang
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  5. Shu Zhang
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  6. Yinkun Liu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yinkun Liu.

Additional information

Chun Sun and Lu Sun: These authors contributed equally to the study.

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Sun, C., Sun, L., Li, Y. et al. Sox2 expression predicts poor survival of hepatocellular carcinoma patients and it promotes liver cancer cell invasion by activating Slug. Med Oncol 30, 503 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-013-0503-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-013-0503-1

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