SOX11

Overview

SOX11 (SRY-Box Transcription Factor 11) is a neurodevelopmental transcription factor critical for neural stem and progenitor cell identity. In glioma, SOX11 is one of the top-ranking markers of the cancer stem cell (CSC)/stem-progenitor compartment in oligodendroglioma, supporting a tri-potent neural-progenitor-like rather than oligodendrocyte-progenitor-like apex of the tumor hierarchy.

Alterations observed in the corpus

• SOX11 is among the 20 highest-ranking genes defining the stem/progenitor program (PC2/PC3) in a single-cell RNA-seq study of 4,347 cells from 6 untreated grade II IDH-mutant 1p/19q-codeleted oligodendrogliomas (Smart-Seq2). SOX11 co-defines this compartment alongside SOX4 and SOX2, and overlaps glioblastoma CSC signatures (hypergeometric P = 1.5×10⁻⁴). PMID:27806376
• Not directly mutated but used as a key biological stratifier in mantle cell lymphoma; SOX11 expression strongly partitions the mutation landscape — ATM/NSD2/KMT2D/MEF2B mutations enriched in SOX11-positive tumors, while CCND1/TLR2 mutations are enriched in SOX11-negative tumors PMID:24145436

Cancer types (linked)

• ODG — SOX11 marks the rare stem/progenitor subpopulation (1.5–8% of cells per tumor) that accounts for nearly all proliferating cancer cells; its expression program is preferentially present in prenatal human brain (Allen Brain Atlas, t-test P = 8×10⁻¹⁸) and fetal human brain single cells (hypergeometric P = 0.006), consistent with a neural-progenitor cell of origin. PMID:27806376

Co-occurrence and mutual exclusivity

• Co-expressed with SOX4, SOX2, NFIB, ASCL1, CHD7, CD24, BOC, TCF4, CCND2 in the oligodendroglioma stem/progenitor compartment; mutually exclusive with differentiated oligodendrocytic (OLIG1, OLIG2, OMG) and astrocytic (APOE, SOX9, GFAP) markers. PMID:27806376

Therapeutic relevance

• The stem/progenitor program (including SOX11) defines the proliferative apex of oligodendroglioma; differentiated cells are largely non-cycling. Targeting the stem/progenitor compartment is proposed as a therapeutic strategy, but no specific drug is evaluated in this study. PMID:27806376

Open questions

• Stemness of SOX11-high cells was not functionally validated by xenotransplantation (grade II oligodendroglioma cells do not engraft). Generality beyond IDH-mutant 1p/19q-codeleted oligodendroglioma is unestablished. PMID:27806376

Sources

• PMID:27806376

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