PURPOSE: Melanoma is a serious and malignant disease worldwide. Seeking 
diagnostic markers and potential therapeutic targets is urgent for melanoma 
treatment. SOX10, a member of the SoxE family of genes, is a transcription 
factor which can regulate the transcription of a wide variety of genes in 
multiple cellular processes.
METHODS: The mRNA level and protein expression of SOX10 is confirmed by 
bioinformatic analysis and IHC staining. MTT, clone formation and EdU analysis 
showed that SOX10 knockdown (KD) could significantly inhibit melanoma cell 
proliferation. FACS analysis showed that SOX10 KD could markedly enhance the 
level of cell apoptosis. The downstream target signaling pathway is predicted by 
RNA-seq based on the public GEO database. The activation of Notch signaling 
mediated by SOX10 is tested by qPCR and Western blot.
RESULTS: Ectopic upregulation of SOX10 was found in melanoma patient tissues 
compared to normal nevus tissues in mRNA and protein levels. Furthermore, both 
mRNA and protein level of SOX10 were negatively correlated with melanoma 
patient's prognosis. SOX10 knockdown could obviously suppress the proliferation 
ability of melanoma cells by inactivating Notch signaling pathway.
CONCLUSION: Our study confirmed that SOX10 is an oncogene and activate Notch 
signaling pathway, which suggests the potential treatment for melanoma patients 
by target SOX10/Notch axis.