SOX4 overexpression is a novel biomarker of malignant status and poor prognosis in breast cancer patients

Abstract

Sex-determining region Y-related high mobility group box 4 (SOX4) has been proven to serve as a critical role in cancer development and progression. However, little is known about the pathological role of SOX4 in breast cancer patients. The purpose of this study is to measure the expression of SOX4 in breast cancer patients and to explore the clinical significance of SOX4. Using RT-PCR and Western blot, messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein expression of SOX4 were measured in breast cancer tissues and adjacent normal mammary tissues. The relationship of SOX4 expression with clinical characteristics of 148 breast cancer patients was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. In the present study, our results indicated that SOX4 mRNA and protein were highly expressed in breast cancer tissues compared with adjacent normal mammary tissues and positively correlated with clinical stage (I-II vs. III-IV; P = 0.008), T classification (T1-T2 vs. T3-T4; P = 0.013), N classification (N0-N1 vs. N2-N3; P < 0.001), M classification (M0 vs. M1; P = 0.001), estrogen receptor (negative vs. positive; P = 0.029), progesterone receptor (negative vs. positive; P = 0.004), and histological grade (G1 vs. G2-G3; P = 0.033) in breast cancer patients. Furthermore, we also found that SOX4 protein overexpression was an unfavorable prognostic factor in breast cancer patients (P < 0.001), regardless of clinical stage, tumor size, lymph node metastasis, and distant metastasis. Finally, high SOX4 expression was an independent poor prognostic factor for pancreatic patients through multivariate analysis (P = 0.033). In conclusion, SOX4 overexpression serves as an unfavorable prognostic biomarker in breast cancer patients.

GALNT14 promotes lung-specific breast cancer metastasis by modulating self-renewal and interaction with the lung microenvironment

“…5a heat map and Supplementary Table 2), the progenitor transcription factor Sex-Determining Region Y-box4 (SOX4) caught our attention for the following reasons: (1) its expression exhibited the greatest fold-change upon both knockdown and overexpression of GALNT14 ; (2) SOX4 has been shown to be regulated by BMP signalling, which was identified as a target pathway of GALNT14 in the current study; and (3) increased SOX4 expression in glioma-initiating cells has been reported37. In breast cancer, SOX4 is associated with cancer progression25383940, yet its role during the metastasis initiation step remains unclear. Furthermore, the contribution of GALNTs to pulmonary metastasis through the regulation of SOX4 is unknown.…”

H19 Functions as a Competing Endogenous RNA to Regulate EMT by Sponging miR-130a-3p in Glioma

“…In the study of human breast cancer, SOX4 was overexpressed and correlates with (ER-/PR-/ HER2-) subtype of breast cancer. Further research found SOX4 can promote the progression of breast cancer by regulating epithelial-mesenchymal transformation (EMT) [47]. Other studies indicated that SOX4 was overexpressed in bladder tumor [48] and hepatocellular carcinoma [49] and it can regulate EMT to promote metastasis of cancer.…”

Histological and Pathological Assessment of miR-204 and SOX4 Levels in Gastric Cancer Patients

“…Bilir et al demonstrated that SOX4 promoted tumor initiation and development in prostate cancer [25]. Song et al documented that SOX4 was associated with malignant status of breast cancer [42]. Lin et al showed that high expression of SOX4 was associated with poor outcome of colon cancer patients [26].…”