title: Clinical significance of the stem cell gene Oct-4 in cervical cancer.
abstract: This study aims to investigate the association between the expression of Oct-4 and the biological behavior or prognosis of cervical cancer. Serum-free suspension culture technology was used to select a suspension of microspheres that can stabilize clones. The tumorigenicity of the microsphere suspension was analyzed in NOD/SCID mice. Microarray analysis was used to detect the specific expression of genes in the microsphere suspension. The expression of Oct-4 was detected by immunohistochemistry, and the correlation between Oct-4 expression and clinical pathological prognostic indicators was analyzed in cervical cancer. The expression of the following genes was significantly different between the experimental and control groups: stem cell differentiation (CD44 and Oct-4), markers cell cycle regulators (APC), cell cycle regulators (MYC), and self-renewal markers (MYST2, NEUROG2, and SOX1). The expression of Oct-4 was significantly higher in cervical cancer tissues than in adjacent normal tissues and was significantly related to differentiation, clinical stage, and lymph node metastasis. The 5-year survival rate of patients with Oct-4-positive expression was lower than that of patients with Oct-4-negative expression (36.7 vs. 67.7 %, respectively; P=0.001). Cox regression analysis revealed that clinical stage, lymph node metastasis, and Oct-4 were independent prognostic factors in cervical cancer (P=0.031, 0.012, and 0.001, respectively). Our results showed that Oct-4 was highly expressed in cervical cancer stem cells; Oct-4 expression was associated with biological behavior and was an independent prognostic factor in cervical cancer. Therefore, it may represent a potential target for cervical cancer treatment.
authors.affiliation: Research Centre, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yanyan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Yimin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Chunxia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Xiuying
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D051379:Mice; D016513:Mice, SCID; D008863:Microspheres; D008875:Middle Aged; D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3 / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D059467:Transcriptome; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D050814:Octamer Transcription Factor-3; C494173:POU5F1 protein, human