Seminar

Role of SOX genes on cancer and ageing

Ander Matheu Fernández, PhD

Cancer and aging share similar molecular regulatory mechanisms. Taking advantage of different mouse models we have provided important clues about the role of p53 and Ink4a/Arf tumor suppressors in cancer and aging. In particular, we demonstrated that mice carrying extra copies of the entire Ink4a/Arf locus and p53 gene separately or in combination present enhanced cancer resistance and delayed aging. There is an increasing body of evidences demonstrating that stem cells are implicated in both processes. SOX family of transcription factors plays critical roles during embryogenesis and its activity is associated with the population of stem cells in several tissues. Its function is particularly prominent in the central nervous system. We demonstrated that several members of this family are highly expressed in cancer and display relevant oncogenic activities. By gain and loss of function experiments we observed that SOX2 and SOX9 regulate phenotypes associated to cancer (proliferation, self-renewal, migration and tumorigenic activity) that makes them suitable therapeutic targets. Finally, we observed that SOX expression decreases with aging.