Abstract

FOXQ1 is an oncogene for a variety of tumors and encodes the forkhead boxrelated transcription factor FoxQ1. However, little is known about the role of FoxQ1 in pancreatic cancer (PC). In this study, we examined FoxQ1 expression in PC cell lines and human PC tissues by quantitative PCR and tissue microarray based immunohistochemical staining (IHC), and investigated the clinical correlation between FoxQ1 tissue levels and the clinicopathological characteristics of PC patients. We found that FoxQ1 mRNA expression was up-regulated both in PC cell lines and tumor tissues. IHC results revealed that FoxQ1 was mainly expressed in the cytoplasm, and to a lesser extent in the nucleus of PC cells. FoxQ1 protein levels were significantly higher in PC tissues when compared with matched non-cancerous tissues, and associated positively with the degree of tumor differentiation. Univariate and multivariate survival analysis revealed that patients with high FoxQ1 expression and advanced TNM stage had poor prognosis (HR=1.856, 95%CI 1.065- 3.234, P=0.029; HR=2.091, 95%CI 1.181-3.705, P=0.01). These data indicate that FoxQ1 expression is negatively associated with the overall survival of PC patients, and that this protein may therefore represent a novel molecular target and new prognostic biomarker for PC.

Keywords: Pancreatic cancer, FoxQ1, prognosis, survival, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, molecular target.