{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T14:57:31Z","timestamp":1790866651132,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":30,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"18","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,19]],"date-time":"2026-09-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789776000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Int. J. Mol. Sci.","IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>SOX9 is a transcription factor linked to cellular plasticity and aggressive behavior in breast cancer. We investigated whether nuclear SOX9 expression correlates with short-term (5-year) survival outcomes in luminal breast cancer. In a retrospective cohort of 60 patients with estrogen receptor-positive invasive breast carcinoma, nuclear SOX9 expression was evaluated via immunohistochemical H-scores (0\u2013300). Survival was analyzed continuously, by median-split dichotomy, and using a 1% nuclear-staining threshold via Kaplan\u2013Meier and Cox regression models. Most tumors were luminal B (73.3%), and 45% were node-positive. Nuclear SOX9 was detected in 51.7% of cases (median positive H-score: 30). Over follow-up, 13 disease-free survival (DFS) and 12 overall survival (OS) events occurred. Continuous H-score did not correlate with clinicopathological variables, DFS (p = 0.576), or OS (p = 0.613). A median-split showed higher 5-year DFS for high-expression tumors (89.7% vs. 74.2%, p = 0.048), but this borderline protective trend was unconfirmed by Cox regression (p = 0.063) or the 1% threshold; ROC analysis showed no discrimination (AUC: 0.34\u20130.36). Standalone nuclear SOX9 expression has no significant impact on short-term (5-year) prognosis in early-stage luminal breast cancer; extended follow-up is warranted to assess potential late recurrence.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms27188337","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T14:23:56Z","timestamp":1790864636000},"page":"8337","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Nuclear SOX9 Expression and Short-Term Survival Outcomes in Early-Stage Luminal Breast Cancer: An Immunohistochemical and Retrospective Cohort Analysis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8802-6376","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ebru","family":"Karci","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul Atlas University, 34408 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0077-6971","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sabin","family":"Goktas Aydin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical Oncology, South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Middlesbrough TS4 3BW, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8676-0136","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Osman","family":"Erinc","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Kanuni Sultan Suleyman Training and Research Hospital, 34303 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Taskin Erkin","family":"Uresin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Kanuni Sultan Suleyman Training and Research Hospital, 34303 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Sevinc","family":"Dagistanli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of General Surgery, Kanuni Sultan Suleyman Training and Research Hospital, 34303 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2306-5598","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nilay","family":"Bakoglu Malinowski","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, \u0130stanbul Medipol University, 34214 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8610-768X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ahmet","family":"Ayd\u0131n","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, \u0130stanbul Medipol University, 34214 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Onur","family":"Tanrikulu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Kanuni Sultan Suleyman Training and Research Hospital, 34303 Istanbul, Turkey"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"software","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"573","DOI":"10.1038\/nrclinonc.2015.117","article-title":"ESR1 Mutations\u2014A Mechanism for Acquired Endocrine Resistance in Breast Cancer","volume":"12","author":"Jeselsohn","year":"2015","journal-title":"Nat. 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