Prognostic significance and biological function of SOCS3 in bladder cancer

Abstract Background: Suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS) is a family of proteins that respond to cytokine, growth factor and other signals, and can regulate various functions of tumor cells. The purpose of our study was to investigate the prognostic performance and biological function of SOCS3 in bladder cancer. Methods: The clinical information of 80 patients with bladder cancer at Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital was collected and the SOCS3 protein level was detected by immunohistochemistry. The relationship between SOCS3 status and clinical parameters and the prognosis was analyzed. Besides, we explored the biological function of SOCS3 in bladder cancer. Results: The expression of SOCS3 in bladder cancer tissues was lower than that in normal tissues at the protein level and transcription level (P < 0.001). The low expression group of SOCS3 was more inclined to high staging and high grading. The prognosis of the high expression group of SOCS3 was significantly better than that of the low expression group of SOCS3 in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer patients (P = 0.037). Also, ectopic expression of SOCS3 reduced the cell proliferation and migration ability of the bladder cancer cell line. Conclusions: Our findings imply that SOCS3 is a potential prognostic factor for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer, and plays a tumor suppressor role in bladder cancer.