Anti-SOX2

SOX2 is a member of the SRY-related HMG-box (SOX) transcription factor family with a set of well-established and diverse roles in stem cell potency and maintenance, embryonic development and cancer. It regulates extensive and often divergent transcriptional networks across different cell types. SOX2 is best known as a core pluripotency factor, maintaining the undifferentiated phenotype of pluripotent stem cells, and is closely co-regulated alongside core pluripotency factors OCT4 and NANOG in undifferentiated ESCs (Embryonic Stem Cells), ECCs (Embryonal Carcinoma Cells) and iPSCs (Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells). Loss of SOX2 expression in these cell lines triggers their differentiation. More recently, SOX2 has been identified as a crucial player in the maintenance and differentiation of adult stem cells such as in neural stem cells. Moreover, high expression levels of SOX2 correlate with tumor progression or poor prognosis of multiple cancers. In contrast, the tumor-suppressive role of SOX2 has been reported in gastric cancer and squamous cell lung cancer. Protein function: Transcription factor that forms a trimeric complex with OCT4 on DNA and controls the expression of a number of genes involved in embryonic development such as YES1, FGF4, UTF1 and ZFP206. Critical for early embryogenesis and for embryonic stem cell pluripotency. May function as a switch in neuronal development. Downstream SRRT target that mediates the promotion of neural stem cell self-renewal. Keeps neural cells undifferentiated by counteracting the activity of proneural proteins and suppresses neuronal differentiation. [The UniProt Consortium]