SOX2 expression inversely correlates with histological grading, nodal metastasis and clinical staging of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) accounts for 95% of entire oral malignant tumors. The development as well as the distribution of many tumors such as OSCC is driven by cancer stem cells (CSCs). Sex determining region Y-box 2 (SOX2) is a functional CSCs marker; it is a transcription factor coding gene, present at chromosomal 3q26.33 area. The current study was conducted to evaluate SOX2 immunohistochemical expression in OSCC in addition to correlation of its expression in various histologic grades and the existing clinical parameters. Paraffin blocks tumor tissues from forty patients of OSCC were utilized to assess SOX2 immunohistochemical expression. The present study demonstrated that SOX2 expression displayed highly significant inverse association with histologic differentiation of OSCC (P=0.001), clinical stages (P=0.007) and lymph node metastases (LNM) (P=0.035). The current study recommended that, SOX2 expression might be utilized as a prognostic predictor for OSCC, and might help in establishment of the diagnosis as well as proper selection of therapeutic modality of cancers.