302 Hospital of PLA, Beijing 100039, China.
Cancer Epidemiol. 2013 Oct;37(5):732-6. doi: 10.1016/j.canep.2013.05.002. Epub 2013 Jun 1.
SOX6, a member of the D subfamily of sex determining region y-related transcription factors, plays critical roles in cell fate determination, differentiation and proliferation. It has been identified as a tumor suppressor or an oncogene in different human cancers. However, the role of SOX6 in the development and progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not been explored. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of SOX6 in HCC and determine its correlation with tumor progression and prognosis.
130 HCC patients who had undergone curative liver resection were selected and immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, and quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR) were performed to analyze SOX6 expression in the respective tumors.
Q-PCR, immunohistochemistry and Western blotting consistently confirmed the decreased expression of SOX6 at both mRNA and protein levels in HCC tissues compared with their adjacent nonneoplastic tissues (P<0.01). Additionally, the expression of SOX6, determined by immunohistochemistry, was negatively correlated with the tumor stage (P=0.003) and serum AFP (P=0.02). Moreover, HCC patients with lower SOX6 expression had worse 5-year disease-free survival and 5-year overall survival than those with high SOX6 expression (P=0.006 and 0.001, respectively). Furthermore, the Cox proportional hazards model showed that the decreased expression of SOX6 was an independent poor prognostic factor for both 5-year disease-free survival (hazards ratio [HR]=2.398, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.601-5.993, P=0.01) and 5-year overall survival (HR=3.569, CI=1.381-7.290, P=0.008) in HCC.
These findings provide evidence for the first time that SOX6 expression was decreased in HCC, which correlated with poor prognosis, suggesting that SOX6 may be a novel and potential prognostic marker for HCC.
SOX6 是性决定区 Y 相关转录因子 D 亚家族的成员，在细胞命运决定、分化和增殖中发挥关键作用。它已被确定为不同人类癌症中的肿瘤抑制因子或癌基因。然而，SOX6 在肝细胞癌（HCC）的发展和进展中的作用尚未得到探索。本研究旨在研究 SOX6 在 HCC 中的表达，并确定其与肿瘤进展和预后的相关性。
选择 130 例接受根治性肝切除术的 HCC 患者，通过免疫组织化学、Western blot 和实时定量聚合酶链反应（Q-PCR）分析各自肿瘤中 SOX6 的表达。
Q-PCR、免疫组织化学和 Western blot 一致证实，与相邻非肿瘤组织相比，HCC 组织中 SOX6 的 mRNA 和蛋白水平均降低（P<0.01）。此外，免疫组织化学测定的 SOX6 表达与肿瘤分期（P=0.003）和血清 AFP（P=0.02）呈负相关。此外，SOX6 表达较低的 HCC 患者 5 年无病生存率和 5 年总生存率均低于 SOX6 表达较高的患者（P=0.006 和 0.001）。此外，Cox 比例风险模型显示，SOX6 表达降低是 HCC 5 年无病生存率（风险比 [HR]=2.398，95%置信区间 [CI]=1.601-5.993，P=0.01）和 5 年总生存率（HR=3.569，CI=1.381-7.290，P=0.008）的独立不良预后因素。
这些发现首次提供了证据表明 SOX6 在 HCC 中表达降低，与不良预后相关，表明 SOX6 可能是 HCC 的一种新的潜在预后标志物。
