Cervical Cancer Cells with Positive Sox2 Expression Exhibit the Properties of Cancer Stem Cells

BACKGROUND: Although Sox2 expression has been found in several types of cancer, it has not yet been used to identify or isolate CSCs in somatic carcinoma. METHODS: SiHa and C33A cells stably transfected with a plasmid containing human Sox2 transcriptional elements driving the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) reporter were sorted into the Sox2-positive and the Sox2-negative populations by FACS, and Sox2 expression was detected by western blot and immunohistochemistry. The differentiation, self-renewal and tumor formation abilities, as well as the expression of the stemness and the EMT related genes of the Sox2-positive and the Sox2-negative cervical cancer cells were characterized in vitro and in vivo. RESULTS: A pSox2/EGFP system was used to separate the Sox2-positive and the Sox2-negative cells from cervical cancer cell lines, SiHa and C33A cells. Compared with the Sox2-negative cells, the Sox2-positive SiHa and C33A cells exhibited greater capacities for self-renewal, differentiation and tumor formation. Furthermore, Sox2-positive SiHa and C33A cells expressed higher levels of stemness-related genes, such as Sox2/Bmi-1/Oct4/ALDH1, and EMT-related genes, such as vimentin/snail/β-catenin. Taken together, all these results indicated that cells expressing endogenous Sox2 are CSCs in cervical carcinomas. CONCLUSION: This study is the first to establish a functional link between endogenous Sox2 expression and CSCs in cervical carcinomas. Additionally, this study demonstrated that it is feasible to develop a tool to isolate CSCs from somatic tumors based on the expression of the endogenous nuclear protein Sox2 instead of cell surface markers.