The following is a summary of “SOX4 is a pivotal regulator of tumorigenesis in differentiated thyroid cancer,” published in the December 2023 issue of Endocrinology by Kuo, et al.

Approximately 20 transcription factors are members of the SOX family. These transcription factors play a role in embryonic development, reprogramming, and the determination of cell fate. Through the research, researchers established that differentiated thyroid carcinoma had a considerable upregulation of SOX4. According to immunohistochemical research, a high level of SOX4 expression was related to papillary histology, extrathyroidal extension, lymph node metastases, and an advanced stage of the illness. 

Even though the significance of the finding was lost in the multivariate Cox regression analysis, patients whose tumors revealed high SOX4 expression had a shorter recurrence-free survival in comparison to other patients. Through the inhibition of SOX4 in thyroid cancer cells, the development of the cells was slowed down, clonogenicity was reduced, and anoikis resistance was repressed. In addition, the inhibitory effect of SOX4 on the formation of xenograft tumors was observed. A decrease in the phosphorylation of AKT and ERK was seen concurrently with the inhibition of SOX4 expression. 

Furthermore, the expression of CRABP2 was shown to be associated with the expression of SOX4, and the silencing of SOX4 resulted in a reduction in the expression of CRABP2 and its downstream effectors, including integrin β1 and β4. These findings suggest that SOX4 may have therapeutic as well as prognostic consequences in differentiated thyroid cancer and that targeting SOX4 may be able to influence tumorigenic processes in the thyroid.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0303720723002137