Sox2‐dependent inhibition of p21 is associated with poor prognosis of endometrial cancer

• DOI: 10.1111/cas.13196
• Publication Date: 2017-02-11T07:26:39Z
• Authors: Kaoru Yamawaki; Tatsuya Ishiguro; Yutaro Mori; Kosuke Yoshihara; Kazuaki Suda; Ryo Tamura; Masayuki Yamaguchi; Masayuki Sekine; Katsunori Kashima; Masaya Higuchi; Masahiro Fujii; Koji Okamoto; Takayuki Enomoto
• Keywords: Adult; Aged, 80 and over; Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21; Mice, Knockout; 0301 basic medicine; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Blotting, Western; Original Articles; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Mice, SCID; Middle Aged; Prognosis; Immunohistochemistry; Endometrial Neoplasms; 3. Good health; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; 03 medical and health sciences; Mice, Inbred NOD; Cell Line, Tumor; Animals; Humans; Female; RNA Interference; Aged

Sex‐determining region Y‐box 2 (SOX2) is an essential factor involved in the self‐renewal and pluripotency of embryonic stem cells and has functions in cell survival and progression in many types of cancers. Here, we found that several endometrial cancer cell lines expressed SOX2, which was required for cell growth. Additionally, SOX2 overexpression regulated the expression of cyclin‐dependent kinase inhibitor 1A (CDKN1A), and SOX2 specifically bound to p21 promoter DNA in endometrial cancer cell lines expressing SOX2. Expressions of SOX2 in endometrial cancer patients were significantly correlated with histological grade and poor prognosis. Moreover, low p21 together with high SOX2 expressions in advanced endometrial cancer patients were associated with the most unfavorable outcomes of patients. These results indicated that simultaneous measurement of SOX2 and p21 expression in endometrial cancer patients may be a useful biomarker for patient prognosis.