title: Roles of sex-determining region Y-box 2 in cell pluripotency and tumor-related signaling pathways.
abstract: The sex-determining region Y-box 2 (SOX2) gene, a member of the Sry-like high-mobility group box (SOX) gene family, encodes the transcription factor Sox2, which significantly contributes to the regulation of cell pluripotency. Sox2 is closely associated with early embryonic development, neural differentiation and other biological processes. An inreasing number of recent studies suggest that Sox2 exerts a positive effect on malignant tumors. According to these results, Sox2 is expected to become a novel target for cancer therapy by unveiling the mechanism through which it affects the biological behavior of tumors. Therefore, it is crucial to elucidate the detailed association of Sox2 with malignant tumors. The aim of this study was to review the role of Sox2 in pluripotency maintenance, early embryonic development and neural differentiation, as well as investigate the detailed mechanism through which Sox2 regulates cancer stem cells and tumorigenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210002, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jingjie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210002, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Huijuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210002, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Hanjun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210002, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Juanjuan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Jinling Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210002, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shaohua
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: cancer stem cells; malignant tumor; pluripotency; sex-determining region Y-box 2; signaling pathway