Increased expression of FOXQ1 is a prognostic marker for patients with gastric cancer

Abstract

Altered expression of forkhead box Q1 (FOXQ1) is observed in various types of human cancers. However, the clinical significance of FOXQ1 expression in gastric cancer (GC) remains largely unknown. The present study aims to explore the clinicopathological significance and prognostic value of FOXQ1 in GC. FOXQ1 messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein expression were determined by quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot in 20 pairs of fresh frozen GC tissues and corresponding noncancerous tissues. Additionally, FOXQ1 expression was analyzed by immunohistochemistry in 158 clinicopathologically characterized GC cases. The correlation of FOXQ1 expression with patients' survival rate was assessed by Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression. Our results showed that the expression levels of FOXQ1 mRNA and protein in GC tissues were both significantly higher than those in non-cancerous tissues. Our results showed that the high expression of FOXQ1 in GC was related to tumor size (P = 0.026), histological grade (P = 0.021), lymph node involvement (P = 0.002), and tumor-node-metastasis stage (P = 0.028). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that a high expression level of FOXQ1 resulted in a significantly poor prognosis of GC patients. Furthermore, Cox multivariates analysis indicated that FOXQ1 expression level was an independent prognostic factor for the overall survival rate of GC patients. In conclusion, overexpression of FOXQ1 is closely related to progression of GC and might be regarded as an independent predictor of poor prognosis for GC.

MiR-1271 Inhibits Cell Proliferation, Invasion and EMT in Gastric Cancer by Targeting FOXQ1

“…A recent study found that FOXQ1 was overexpressed in GC tissues, and this overexpression was closely related to tumor size, histological grade, lymph node involvement, TNM stage, and shorter overall survival of GC patients [14]. However, no further biological function of FOXQ1 in human GC has been reported.…”

“…Moreover, FOXQ1 is associated with an aggressive cancer phenotype and regulates epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) by suppressing E-cadherin transcription [8,12,13]. In clinical settings, overexpression of FOXQ1 protein has been reported to be strongly linked to poor prognosis in cancers such as non-small cell lung cancer [9], hepatocellular carcinoma [11], and gastric cancer [14]. To date, however, the biological function of FOXQ1 in GC and the mechanism underlying its upregulation have not been examined.…”

Suppression of forkhead box Q1 by microRNA-506 represses the proliferation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of cervical cancer cells

“…High FOXQ1 expression is tightly linked to the aggressive malignant phenotype of hepatocellular carcinoma (30). FOXQ1 expression is significantly upregulated in gastric cancer tissues and is positively related to tumor size, histological grade, lymph node metastasis, and poor prognosis of gastric cancer (15). Furthermore, high expression of FOXQ1 promotes the proliferation and metastasis of glioma (7) and esophageal cancer cells (5).…”

“…The increased EMT of cancer cells accounts for cancer metastasis by promoting the migratory and invasive abilities of cancer cells (10,11). FOXQ1 has been suggested as an oncogene in various cancers, including colorectal (12), lung (13,14), gastric (15), ovarian (16) and breast cancers (17). However, whether or not FOXQ1 plays an important role in cervical cancer remains poorly understood.…”

FOXQ1 (forkhead box Q1)

“…The expression of FOXQ1 was a prognostic factor for overall survival and correlated with tumor size, grade and tumor-node metastasis stage (Liang et al, 2013). …”