Expression of Sox2 in human cervical carcinogenesis.

Sox2 is a key transcription factor for embryonic development and plays a critical role in determining the fate of stem cells. Recently, Sox2 has been detected in several human tumors, indicating a potential function in tumorigenesis. We initially reported remarkably increased nuclear Sox2 staining in cervical carcinomas compared with normal cervix (P < .05). Furthermore, Sox2 staining was detected in most tumorsphere cells isolated from fresh cervical cancer tissues but not among the differentiated tumorsphere cells. When Sox2 was stably expressed in cervical cancer cells (SiHa and HeLa), Sox2-overexpressing cells had increased proliferation, clonogenicity, and tumorigenicity in vitro and in vivo than control cells. These results suggest that Sox2 may participate in carcinogenesis of cervical carcinomas and may be a potential therapeutic target molecule for cervical cancers.