Embryonic stem cell factors-OCT4, NANOG, and SOX2-contribute to the maintenance of stem cell properties and malignant progression in various cancers, including glioblastoma. Although functional roles of each of these genes are well documented in stem cell and cancer biology, no study has directly compared their cellular transforming activity under same experimental conditions. In this study, we compared the cellular transforming activity of OCT4, NANOG, and SOX2 using human immortalized astrocytes cultured under serum-free stem cell culture conditions. We found that SOX2 exhibited the strongest transforming activities, such as cell proliferation, neurosphere formation, resistance to cytotoxic drug, and cell migration/invasion, which may be associated with the activation of the nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB) signaling pathway. Thus, OCT4, NANOG, and SOX2, known to be frequently activated in various cancers and cancer stem cells, may play a distinct role in the regulation of cellular transformation.
Keywords: NANOG; NFκB; OCT4; SOX2; astrocytes; cellular transformation.