Transcription factor sex-determining region Y-box 2 (SOX2) involves in the maintenance of cancer stem cells. However, the role of SOX2 in colorectal cancer (CRC) remains unclear. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of SOX2 on CRC. Studies were searched using electronic databases. The combined odds ratios (ORs) or hazard ratios (HRs: multivariate Cox survival analysis) with their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and GEO datasets were further applied to validate the survival effect. The functional analysis of SOX2 was investigated. In this work, 13 studies including 2337 patients were identified, and validation data were enrolled from TCGA and GEO datasets. SOX2 expression was not significantly related to age, gender, microsatellite instability (MSI) status, clinical stage, histological grade, tumor size, pT-stage, lymph node metastasis, distal metastasis, and cancer-specific survival (CSS) but was correlated with worse overall survival (OS: n = 536 patients) (P<0.05). Furthermore, TCGA data demonstrated similar results, with no significant correlation between SOX2 and pathological characteristics. Further validation data (OS: n = 1408 and disease-free survival (DFS): n = 1367) showed that SOX2 expression was correlated with worse OS (HR = 1.35, 95% CI: 1.11–1.65, P=0.004) and DFS (HR = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.04–1.62, P=0.02). The functional analyses showed that SOX2 involved in cell-cell junction, focal adhesion, extracellular matrix- (ECM-) receptor interaction, and MAP kinase activity. Our findings suggest that SOX2 expression may be correlated with the worse prognosis of CRC.
Retraction: ‘Downregulation of miR‐487a‐3p suppresses the progression of non‐small cell lung cancer via targeting Smad7’ by Fan Y, Hao J, Cen X, Song K, Yang C, Xiao S, Cheng S, Drug Development Research. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1002/ddr.21876.
The above article, published online on 15 September 2021 in Wiley Online Library (http://wileyonlinelibrary.com), has been retracted by agreement between the authors, the journal Editor‐in‐Chief, Steven Fletcher, and Wiley Periodicals, LLC.
The retraction has been agreed upon due to mycoplasma contamination of the cell lines used in the study which may affect the reliability of the conclusions.
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