The SOX2 gene, famous for its role in helping to reprogram adult cells into stem cells, is also a cancer driver.
Matthew Meyerson of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, and his colleagues searched genome-wide for tumour-promoting genes in human samples of lung and oesophageal squamous-cell carcinomas. They found that a region around SOX2 was frequently replicated in both diseases. SOX2 expression is necessary for the growth of lung and oesophageal squamous-cell cancer lines. Overactivating SOX2 also turned normal cells cancerous with help from a couple of other genes.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cancer biology: Stem cell–cancer link. Nature 461, 700 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/461700b
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/461700b