Role of the SOX family in cancer immune evasion: Emerging player and promising therapeutic opportunities

Abstract

Cancer immune evasion is one of the important mechanisms for cancer development, which is essential to developing novel immunotherapeutic strategies. The SOX (SRY-related HMG-box) family of transcription factors plays a crucial role in normal physiology as well as in a variety of human diseases especially cancer. It has been shown that SOX is involved in cancer immune evasion processes. This mini-review aimed to summarize how SOX family members induce cancer immune evasion by regulating antigen presentation, shaping the tumor immunosuppressive milieu, and controlling regulatory immune checkpoint inhibitors like programmed death ligand 1. Thorough exploration of SOX family will help uncover the mechanism of cancer immune evasion, and provide new ideas and targets for the development of immunotherapy strategies.