SOX2 in Cancer Stemness: Tumor Malignancy and Therapeutic Potentials

Overview

Journal J Mol Cell Biol

Publisher Oxford University Press

Specialty Molecular Biology

Date 2018 Dec 6

PMID 30517668

Citations 51

Authors

Mahfuz Al Mamun

Kaiissar Mannoor

Jun Cao

Firdausi Qadri

Xiaoyuan Song

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Cancer stem cells (CSCs), a minor subpopulation of tumor bulks with self-renewal and seeding capacity to generate new tumors, posit a significant challenge to develop effective and long-lasting anti-cancer therapies. The emergence of drug resistance appears upon failure of chemo-/radiation therapy to eradicate the CSCs, thereby leading to CSC-mediated clinical relapse. Accumulating evidence suggests that transcription factor SOX2, a master regulator of embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells, drives cancer stemness, fuels tumor initiation, and contributes to tumor aggressiveness through major drug resistance mechanisms like epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, ATP-binding cassette drug transporters, anti-apoptotic and/or pro-survival signaling, lineage plasticity, and evasion of immune surveillance. Gaining a better insight and comprehensive interrogation into the mechanistic basis of SOX2-mediated generation of CSCs and treatment failure might therefore lead to new therapeutic targets involving CSC-specific anti-cancer strategies.

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