FoxQ1 promoted metastatic potential of pancreatic cancer via transcriptionally activating ZEB2

作者：Li, Chong; Zhang, Huapeng; Li, Jingyi; Li, Shan; Wang, Tingting; Wang, Zhifang; Han, Chao; Zheng, Lili^*

来源：International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Pathology, 2017, 10(4): 4497-4505.

• FoxQ1
• transcriptionally activating
• ZEB2
• metastasis
• pancreatic cancer

The oncogenic role of forkhead box Q1 (foxQ1) had been clarified in multiple malignancies while its role in pancreatic cancer was not fully understood. In this study, we first confirmed the clinical significance of foxQ1 expression in pancreatic cancer. We observed that foxQ1 was overexpressed in pancreatic cancer tissues and cell lines compared with non-tumor tissues and normal pancreatic ductal cell line HPDE, respectively. By immunohistochemical assay, we found that expression of foxQ1 predicted later TNM stage and poorer survival status. Then we provided new findings that foxQ1 promoted metastatic potential of pancreatic cancer cells via transcriptionally activating zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 2 (ZEB2), a well-known transcriptional suppressor of E-cadherin. Silencing foxQ1 inhibited the migration and invasion ability of PANC-1 cells via down-regulating ZEB2 expression while overexpressing foxQ1 promoted these aggressive behaviors of ASPC1 cells via up-regulating ZEB2 level. FoxQ1 and its downstream effector ZEB2 might provide novel therapeutic strategy of pancreatic cancer.

• 出版日期2017
• 单位郑州大学