The suppressor of cytokine signaling 2 (SOCS2) is a member of the SOCS family and influences the carcinogenesis of multiple types of tumors, but the biological roles of SOCS2 in HCC remain unclear.
In this study, we investigated the role of suppressor of cytokine signaling 2 (SOCS2) as mediator of the cross talk between androgens and GH signals in the prostate and its potential role as tumor suppressor in prostate cancer (PCa).
The expression levels of SOCS2 and SOCS6 mRNA and protein in tumor, para-tumor and normal liver tissues were detected in 106 HCC patients by real-time quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western blot.
Cytokine independence correlated with low expression and cytokine dependence with high expression of the JAK/STAT pathway inhibitor suppressor of cytokine signaling 2 (SOCS2) suggesting a two-step mechanism for cytokine independence of MPD cells: (i) activation of the oncogene JAK2V617F and (ii) inactivation of the tumor suppressor gene SOCS2.
The significant correlation seen between SOCS-2 expression, grade, nuclear grade, p27, Ki-67, cyclin A, pRb, and EGFR labelling strongly supports the hypothesis that SOCS-2 loss might be related to cell proliferation and tumour growth in breast carcinoma.