Expression of OCT4 and SOX2 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and its relationship with clinical prognosis / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Studies have shown that OCT4, SOX2 and HIWI can express in tumor tissues. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between the expression of stem cell transcription factors SOX2 and OCT4 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and their clinical characteristics and prognosis. METHODS: Expression levels of SOX2 and Oct4 were detected using immunohistochemical SP method in 77 cases of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and 40 cases of adjacent cancer tissues confirmed by pathological examination, and then the their relationship with prognosis and clinical characteristics of the patients was analyzed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Significantly higher levels of SOX2 and Oct4 were found in the esophageal cancer tissues than the adjacent cancer tissues (P < 0.05). SOX2 and Oct4 were highly expressed in the esophageal cancer tissues isolated from poorly differentiated, lymph node metastasis patients (P < 0.05). During the 2-year follow-up, the median survival of patients positive for SOX2 and Oct4 was only 24 and 21 months, respectively, which was significantly lower than that of negative patients (30 and 33 months, respectively). These findings indicate that the highly expressed SOX2 and Oct4 in esophageal cancer tissues are associated with the differentiation, metastasis and prognosis of the patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.