The current results showed that CRM1 and p27 expression were associated with glioma grade and that high CRM1 protein expression might be related to poor outcome.

a b s t r a c tWe previously showed that high expression levels of SOX9 correlate with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression. However, the exact role that SOX9 plays in HCC remains unclear. In this study, we firstly confirmed that miRNA-101 directly targets SOX9 in HCC. Ectopic expression of miR-101 significantly inhibited HCC cell proliferation and tumorigenicity by targeting SOX9. Moreover, the down-regulation of miR-101 in clinical HCC tissues correlates with tumor aggressiveness and poor prognosis. Therefore, miR-101 may suppress HCC tumor progression by down-regulating SOX9. MiR-101 may be a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target for HCC.

BackgroundSOX9 as a member of the SOX (SRY [sex determining region Y] box) gene superfamily has been previously demonstrated to be a proto-oncogene in a variety of malignancies. However, the clinical significance of SOX9 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of SOX9 in HCC and determine its correlation with tumor progression and prognosis.MethodsOne-hundred and thirty HCC patients who had undergone curative liver resection were selected and immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, and quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR) were performed to analyze SOX9 expression in the respective tumors.ResultsImmunohistochemistry, Western blotting, and Q-PCR consistently confirmed SOX9 overexpression in HCC tissues compared with their adjacent nonneoplastic tissues (P ≪ 0.01). Additionally, immunostaining showed more SOX9 positive cells in the higher tumor stage (T3 ~ 4) and tumor grade (G3) than in the lower tumor stage (T1 ~ 2, P = 0.03) and tumor grade (G1 ~ 2, P = 0.01), respectively. Moreover, HCC patients with high SOX9 expression were significantly associated with lower 5-year overall survival (P ≪ 0.01) and lower 5-year disease-free survival (P ≪ 0.01), respectively. The Cox proportional hazards model further showed that SOX9 over-expression was an independent poor prognostic factor for both 5-year disease-free survival (hazards ratio [HR] = 2.621, 95% confidence interval[CI] = 1.548-5.829, P = 0.01) and 5-year overall survival (HR = 3.825, CI = 1.638-7.612, P = 0.003) in HCC.ConclusionOur data suggest for the first time that the overexpression of SOX9 protein in HCC tissues is of predictive value on tumor progression and poor prognosis.Virtual slidesThe virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/9029740396926377.

The forkhead box transcription factor Foxo3a has been implicated to play a critical role in various cancers by suppressing tumor growth. Recent studies have identified Foxo3a as a key regulator of Estrogen Receptor-α (ERα). In the present study, we examined the expression of Foxo3a, and investigated its clinical significance and correlation with ER and prognostic role in patients with breast cancer. Immunohistochemical analysis was performed on tumors from 70 breast cancer patients. Interpretable Foxo3a expression was analyzed along with major clinicopathologic variables, and a comparison was made with corresponding 5-year clinical follow-up data. Foxo3a protein expression correlated with ER positivity (P<0.001), histologic grade (1, 2) (P = 0.002), axillary lymph node negativity (P<0.001) and TNM stage (1, 2) (P<0.001). Moreover, the Kaplan-Meier survival curves of the study population showed that a high expression level of Foxo3a was significantly correlated with long-term survival (P<0.0001). In a multivariate analysis, Foxo3a expression was identified as a favorable independent prognostic factor in overall survival (P = 0.038). In conclusion, our results indicated that Foxo3a expression is a favorable prognostic marker in breast cancer. In addition, Foxo3a staining could potentially be used in patient stratification in conjunction with other prognostic markers.