Prostate crab remains a world wellness challenge, ranking arsenic nan 2nd astir communal malignancy among men. While early-stage illness tin beryllium efficaciously managed, precocious forms-particularly metastatic castration-resistant prostate crab (mCRPC)-pose important therapeutic hurdles. A increasing assemblage of grounds highlights nan pivotal domiciled of SOX transcription factors, pinch SOX2 emerging arsenic a cardinal driver successful tumor growth, spread, and guidance to therapy.
SOX2 is intricately linked to nan destiny of crab stem/progenitor cells, influencing processes specified arsenic compartment proliferation, apoptosis resistance, and epithelial-mesenchymal modulation (EMT), which substance penetration and metastasis. Elevated SOX2 levels are often observed successful fierce tumors and are associated pinch mediocre prognosis. Its activity extends to shaping tumor lineage plasticity, enabling crab cells to accommodate and past nether therapeutic pressure. This adaptability often facilitates translator into neuroendocrine prostate crab (NEPC), an fierce version pinch constricted curen options.
At nan molecular level, SOX2 operates wrong a analyzable regulatory network, interacting pinch cardinal transcription factors, non-coding RNAs, and epigenetic modifications. It is besides a captious node successful aggregate signaling pathways, including PI3K/AKT, Hedgehog, Wnt/β-catenin, and TGF-β, which collectively prolong crab stem compartment traits and thrust illness progression. Importantly, SOX2's regularisation involves some upstream inducers specified arsenic BRN2, TRIB2, and NRP2, and downstream effectors including LSD1, H19, SPINK1, and ASCL1-each contributing to tumor aggressiveness and therapeutic resistance.
SOX2's domiciled successful curen guidance is peculiarly significant. It supports guidance to chemotherapy by inducing a reversible quiescent authorities and activating endurance pathways, while besides mediating guidance to atomic hormone receptor signaling inhibitors done modulation of compartment rhythm regulators and glucocorticoid receptor expression. This makes SOX2 a captious obstacle successful sustaining semipermanent therapeutic occurrence successful precocious prostate cancer.
The imaginable of targeting SOX2-directly aliases indirectly-offers a promising avenue for innovation. Strategies whitethorn see disrupting its protein-protein interactions, modulating upstream regulators aliases downstream pathways, and harnessing small-molecule inhibitors to selectively curb its tumor-promoting functions. However, fixed SOX2's value successful normal insubstantial regeneration, therapeutic approaches must equilibrium efficacy pinch information to minimize adverse effects.
As investigation advances, knowing nan multifaceted domiciled of SOX2 could pave nan measurement for much precise, effective, and durable treatments, offering dream for patients battling nan astir fierce forms of prostate cancer.
Source:
Journal reference:
Guotu Du, Xiang Huang, Peng Su, Ying Yang, Shicheng Chen, Tianyu Huang, Neng Zhang, The domiciled of SOX transcription factors successful prostate cancer: Focusing connected SOX2, Genes & Diseases, Volume 12, Issue 6, 2025, 101692, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gendis.2025.101692