Previous studies on SOX10 have mainly focused on developmental biology [39, 40], and its role in melanoma has been extensively studied due to its ability to promote melanin synthesis and melanocyte proliferation [8]. However, recent studies have revealed that SOX10 is also expressed in breast cells and contributes to maintaining their stem cell properties [41]. Studies have shown that SOX10 is predominantly expressed in triple-negative breast cancer and metastatic breast cancer, and its overexpression can increase the stem cell characteristics of TNBC cells by inducing the expression of nestin [42]. SOX10 knockout can reduce the proportion of CD24-/CD44 + cells, inhibit tumor stem cell properties, and ultimately suppress tumor formation [43]. Additionally, SOX10 overexpression can lead to interstitial transformation of mammary epithelial cells [44]. Besides regulating cell development and differentiation, SOX10 can also induce cell proliferation, apoptosis, and other physiological processes [45]. Hence, SOX10 can potentially serve as an effective biomarker to evaluate the progression and prognosis of breast cancer.
The meta-analysis revealed a significant correlation between SOX10 overexpression and TNM-stage and grade of breast cancer. The analysis showed that there was a significant association between SOX10 overexpression and grade of breast cancer in both Asians and Caucasians, while a significant association was only found in Asians for TNM-stage analysis. However, the small number of Caucasians might limit the effectiveness of TNM-stage analysis, and more studies are needed in this regard. The meta-analysis also examined the correlations of SOX10 expression level with T stage, N stage, and lymph node metastasis of breast cancer, but no significant correlations were found. Although three studies [25,30,31] out of nine [22,25,27–30,31–33] found a significant correlation between SOX10 expression and lymph node metastasis in breast cancer, the remaining six studies did not find any significant correlations [22,27–29,31–33]. The meta-analysis revealed that SOX10 was not associated with lymph node metastasis in breast cancer, but it might be related to the stage of the breast cancer and promote the development of tumor cells. This is consistent with the role of SOX10 in cell differentiation and development [45]. The studies analyzed the correlation between SOX10 expression and morphological characteristics of breast cancer [22,27,30,38]. The results showed that there was no difference in SOX10 expression between patients with lobular carcinoma and those with ductal carcinoma. Therefore, the expression of SOX10 may not affect the morphological changes of breast cancer.
The study also collected data on the expression of PR, ER, and HER2 in breast cancer patients. The correlation between the expression of SOX10 and PR, ER, and HER2 was analyzed, and the results showed that the level of SOX10 expression was significantly higher in patients who were negative for PR, ER, and HER2. This suggests that SOX10 overexpression may be associated with the occurrence of TNBC. Therefore, the study further analyzed the correlation between SOX10 expression level and the clinical progression and prognosis of TNBC patients. The results showed that the positive rate of SOX10 in TNBC patients was much higher than that in non-TNBC patients, and there was a significant correlation between SOX10 expression and TNBC occurrence in both Caucasians and Asians. This is consistent with previous studies that have shown the potential of SOX10 to predict the occurrence of TNBC. Additionally, the expression of SOX10 was found to be related to the TNM-stage and grade of TNBC patients. However, the individual studies may have limitations due to the small number of clinical samples, race, and cut-off values for SOX10 positive expression, which can lead to inconsistent results. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a meta-analysis to summarize the data from published studies.
The results of the meta-analysis suggested that the expression of SOX10 may contribute to the clinical progression of TNBC and affect the prognosis of TNBC patients. The analysis showed a significant correlation between SOX10 expression and poor prognosis of TNBC patients. These findings indicate that SOX10 may promote the clinical progression of TNBC and contribute to the poor prognosis of TNBC patients. The absence of significant heterogeneity or publication bias in the analyses suggests that the results of the pooled analyses are reliable. While we aimed to investigate the molecular mechanism underlying the role of SOX10 in promoting the clinical progression of TNBC by searching relevant literature, we were unable to find any relevant studies. Therefore, future studies should focus on exploring the molecular mechanisms through which SOX10 promotes the clinical progression and prognosis of TNBC.
Based on the analysis, it was found that SOX10 significantly promotes the clinical progression of breast cancer, leading to poor prognosis of breast cancer patients, especially in TNBC. However, there were some limitations in the study. Firstly, the cut-off value for SOX10 positive expression was inconsistent, which may have had a minor impact on the final results. Secondly, few studies examined the expression levels of SOX10 in normal breast tissues, with most studies focusing on the correlation between SOX10 expression and the clinical progression and prognosis of breast cancer. Thirdly, there were few studies examining the expression levels of SOX10 in other subtypes of breast cancer, so the correlation between SOX10 expression and molecular subtypes of breast cancer should be explored in future studies.
In summary, the analysis showed that high expression of SOX10 was significantly associated with advanced progression and poor prognosis in breast cancer patients, particularly in TNBC. Therefore, SOX10 overexpression could potentially serve as a useful biomarker for evaluating the clinical progression and prognosis of breast cancer.