Newly available non-adenocarcinoma/small cell carcinoma PDX LuCaP lines were analyzed for expression of stem cell transcription factors (scTF) LIN28A, NANOG, POU5F1, SOX2, which are responsible for reprogramming or de-differentiation. cDNA of these genes were cloned from small cell carcinoma LuCaP 145.1 into expression vectors to determine if they could function in reprogramming.
SOX2 antibodies are specific (>90%) markers for SCLC, but are rarely found in patients with other tumours, whether neurological symptoms are present or not.
The stem cell marker SOX2 was found in all CTC lines and SCLC GLC14/16, whereas elevated expression of Oct-3/4 and Nanog was restricted to BHGc26 and UHGc5.
SOX2 is a cancer biomarker and used for detecting small cell lung cancer, lung adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, skin cancer, prostate cancer, and breast cancer.
SOX2 expression was high in esophageal small-cell carcinoma (70%±33% of nuclei), small-cell lung carcinoma (70%±26%), and the embryonic esophagus (75%±4%), and it was significantly lower in poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (29%±28%).
The importance of ASCL1 as a potential driver oncogene in SCLC is further underscored by the observation that ASCL1 is overexpressed in >50% of SCLC specimens, an extent greater than that observed for other putative oncogenes (MYC, MYCN, and SOX2) previously implicated in SCLC.
This study applied immunohistochemistry to analyze the expression of SOX2 in human lung tissues of normal individuals as well as patients with adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and large cell and small cell carcinoma and demonstrated specific overexpression of SOX2 in all types of lung cancer tissues.
Interestingly, we found that small cell lung cancer (SCLC), a subtype of lung cancer with neuroendocrine characteristics, was generally characterized by high levels of SOX2, SOX4, and SOX11 along with the SOX4-specific gene expression signature identified.
Serological analysis of expression cDNA libraries (SEREX) derived from two small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cell lines using pooled sera of SCLC patients led to the isolation of 14 genes, including 4 SOX group B genes (SOX1, SOX2, SOX3, and SOX21) and ZIC2.