title: The role of forkhead box Q1 transcription factor in ovarian epithelial carcinomas.
abstract: The role of the forkhead box Q1 (FOXQ1) transcription factor in cancer pathogenesis has recently emerged. Overexpression of FOXQ1 has been found in a variety of human cancers, and its upregulation has been associated with poor prognosis in colorectal, breast, and non-small cell lung carcinomas. However, the molecular mechanism underlying how FOXQ1 contributes to ovarian epithelial carcinomas remains unclear. To this end, we analyzed gene expression levels in ovarian cancer tissues and cell lines and demonstrated a higher expression level of FOXQ1 in epithelial ovarian cancer cells than that in normal epithelial cells. We then used a human ovarian cancer cell line, SKOV3, which expressed a higher level of FOXQ1, as a cell model to investigate the biological effects of FOXQ1 by using RNA interference. Silencing of FOXQ1 expression using a shRNA knockdown approach affected the expression of several cell cycle regulators, leading to suppressed cell proliferation, reduced cell motility/invasion, and upregulation  of epithelial cell markers and the downregulation of mesenchymal cell markers.  Taken together, these results suggest that FOXQ1 expression is essential to maintain  cell proliferation, motility/invasion, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition phenotypes in ovarian cancer cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Qilu Hospital, Shandong University,  107 W. Wenhua Road, Jinan 250012, China. tlw@jhmi.edu.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Ie-Ming
authors.initials: IeM
authors.lastname: Shih
authors.forename: Tian-Li
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000077216:Carcinoma, Ovarian Epithelial; D059447:Cell Cycle Checkpoints / Q000235:genetics; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000235:genetics; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015870:Gene Expression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D055785:Gene Knockdown Techniques; D006801:Humans; D009375:Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D014410:Tumor Stem Cell Assay; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: C484579:FOXQ1 protein, human; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors