title: FOXM1 and FOXQ1 Are Promising Prognostic Biomarkers and Novel Targets of Tumor-Suppressive miR-342 in Human Colorectal Cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Colorectal cancer ranks as the third most frequent cancer type, and its incidence continues to rise gradually worldwide, highlighting the need to identify previously unrecognized molecular events that propel development of this malignancy. Recent evidence suggests that dysregulated expression of FOX family of transcription factors may be critical in various genetic disorders as well as cancer; however, the functional and clinical significance of this pathway in colorectal cancer remains unclear.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Herein, we performed a systematic and comprehensive discovery step by evaluating the expression of FOX family members, and identified that FOXM1 and FOXQ1 are frequently overexpressed in colorectal cancer. We subsequently confirmed these findings in two large testing cohorts (n = 550) and an independent clinical validation cohort (n = 134), in which high expression of FOXM1 and FOXQ1 emerged as an independent prognostic factor in colorectal cancer patients. We corroborated these findings by performing functional assays in which knockdown of FOXM1 and FOXQ1 resulted in inhibited cell proliferation and suppressed migration and invasion in colorectal cancer cells. Furthermore, using bioinformatic approaches, we identified miR-342 as a novel regulator of both FOXM1 and FOXQ1. Overexpression or inhibition of miR-342 modulated the expression of both genes and contributed to phenotypic alterations in colorectal cancer cells, which was subsequently validated in a xenograft animal model.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Collectively, we have firstly identified FOXM1 and FOXQ1 as promising prognostic biomarkers in colorectal cancer patients, and provided novel evidence that therapeutic targeting of these genes or miR-342 may be a potential treatment approach in colorectal cancer patients. Clin Cancer Res; 22(19); 4947-57. ©2016 AACR.
authors.affiliation: Center for Gastrointestinal Research, Center for Epigenetics, Cancer Prevention and Cancer Genomics, Baylor Research Institute and Sammons Cancer Center, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas. Department of Clinical Laboratory, Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Wenhao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Weng
authors.affiliation: Division of Reparative Medicine, Department of Gastrointestinal and Pediatric Surgery, Institute of Life Sciences, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Mie, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshinaga
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okugawa
authors.affiliation: Center for Gastrointestinal Research, Center for Epigenetics, Cancer Prevention and Cancer Genomics, Baylor Research Institute and Sammons Cancer Center, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas.
authors.forename: Shusuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Toden
authors.affiliation: Division of Reparative Medicine, Department of Gastrointestinal and Pediatric Surgery, Institute of Life Sciences, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Mie, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Toiyama
authors.affiliation: Division of Reparative Medicine, Department of Gastrointestinal and Pediatric Surgery, Institute of Life Sciences, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Mie, Japan.
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kusunoki
authors.affiliation: Center for Gastrointestinal Research, Center for Epigenetics, Cancer Prevention and Cancer Genomics, Baylor Research Institute and Sammons Cancer Center, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas. ajay.goel@bswhealth.org.
authors.forename: Ajay
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D000072278:Forkhead Box Protein M1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics; D064593:Heterografts; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D011379:Prognosis
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C107585:FOXM1 protein, human; C484579:FOXQ1 protein, human; D000072278:Forkhead Box Protein M1; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors; C546176:MIRN342 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs