Piwil-2 represents a poor prognosticator in Merkel cell carcinomas that regulates oncoproteins, cell cycle arrest and SOX-2 expression.

ABSTRACT: Merkel cell carcinomas (MCCs) are rare, highly aggressive skin cancers with poor outcome due to early lymphatic tumor spread and frequent recurrences. MCCs mostly occur in the head and neck and are mainly caused by an infection with the Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV). Increasing evidence suggests that Piwil-2 and small non-coding PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) play an important role in solid malignancies and we thought that this might also be the case for MCCs. Therefore, Piwil-2 expression was first evaluated in 27 MCC specimens and correlated with oncological outcome. We found an association with high Piwil-2 expression and advanced tumor stage, MCPyV positivity and poor outcome. Next, we utilized siRNAs for Piwil-2 knock-down in MCC cells. Downregulation of Piwil-2 caused a significan

SUBMITTER: Janik S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12603134 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature