Low level of FOXL1 indicates a worse prognosis for gastric cancer patients

Abstract

The aim of this study was to detect forkhead box L1 (FOXL1) expression in gastric cancer (GC) and to analyze its association with the prognosis of GC patients. Immunohistochemical staining, Western blotting, and quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction were performed to detect FOXL1 tissue expression in 109 GC patients. Clinicopathological characteristics and survival data were retrospectively analyzed to discover the clinical importance of FOXL1 expression. The chi-square test was used to analyze the relationship between FOXL1 expression and the clinicopathological characteristics. Survival curves were plotted by using the Kaplan-Meier method and compared using the log-rank test. Survival data were evaluated using univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses. The expression of FOXL1 messenger RNA (mRNA) was significantly higher in adjacent normal samples than in the tumor tissues (P = 0.043). Clinicopathological analysis showed that FOXL1 expression was significantly correlated with depth of invasion (P = 0.017), lymph node metastasis (P = 0.019), and distant metastasis (P = 0.047). FOXL1-negative as opposed to the FOXL1-positive patients had lower 5-year overall survival (14.06 vs. 37.78 %, P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis suggested that FOXL1 expression might be an independent prognostic indicator (hazard ratio = 0.307, 95 % confidence interval, 0.187-0.505; P < 0.001) for GC patients. In conclusion, our findings provide evidence that FOXL1 might serve as a candidate tumor suppressor and a potential prognostic biomarker for GC.

Retracted: CUL4B promotes metastasis and proliferation in pancreatic cancer cells by inducing epithelial‐mesenchymal transition via the Wnt/β‐catenin signaling pathway

“…Any brownish yellow granules on the cytoplasm and/or nuclei were positive. The percentage of positive cells and the staining intensity were determined by semi‐quantitative analysis . Staining intensity was calculated using the following scale: no staining, 0 point; light yellow staining, 1 point; brownish‐yellow staining, 2 points; and dark yellow staining, 3 points.…”

Pan-Cancer Analysis Reveals Expressional Correlations between Forkhead Box Family Members

“…FOXL1 has been identified as tumor suppressor responsible for the development of gastrointestinal tract. Low FOXL1 expressions tend to increase depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, and distant metastasis [8]. As mentioned before, FOXC2 and FOXL1 exist in the same cluster together with FOXF1 at 16q24.1 [9].…”

FOXL1 overexpression is associated with poor outcome in patients with glioma

“…Previous studies have suggested that FOXL1, a critical transcription factor, plays an important role in regulation of cell proliferation and development of the epithelium in gastrointestinal tracts in mice (20,21). The roles of FOXL1 in gastrointestinal cancers have been widely investigated (12–14). Furthermore, FOXL1 has been reported to be associated with regulation of central nervous system development in zebrafish (16), suggesting that FOXL1 may also have an effect on brain cancers.…”

“…In the context of FOXL1 protein, it was first discovered in the mesenchyme of the gastrointestinal tract (10) and it played an important role in gut maintenance (11). Thus far, several studies have reported the associations of FOXL1 with gastrointestinal cancer including stomach, colon and pancreas (12–14), and urinary cancer (10,15). In addition, Nakada et al reported that FOXL1 could regulate centralnervous system development by suppressing Sonic Hedgehog protein expression in zebrafish (16), suggesting that FOXL1 may be also involved in brain cancer.…”