Lee GJ, et al. - In this study, researchers studied how gene expression between thymoma (TM) and thymic carcinoma (TC) was different and how the prognosis in thymic epithelial tumors (TET) was influenced by such genes. Real-time PCR was used to determine gene expression profiles of SOX2, OCT-4, IGF-1, IGF-1R and IR mRNA transcripts in tumor tissues of TM and TC. They constructed tissue microarray with 140 paraffin-embedded tumor tissues. For IGF-1R-related signaling molecules, including SOX2, IGF-1, IGF-1R and pAKT, they performed immunohistochemistry. A significantly higher expression of SOX2 was seen in TC than in TM. Findings also revealed a close association of SOX2 expression with IGF-1 and pAKT expression. A significant association of higher SOX2 expression with shorter survival was observed in patients with TET.