Forkhead Box J1 Expression Is Upregulated and Correlated with Prognosis in Patients with Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Forkhead Box J1 Expression Is Upregulated and Correlated with Prognosis in Patients with Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma ONCOLOGY LETTERS 10: 1487-1494, 2015 Forkhead box J1 expression is upregulated and correlated with prognosis in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma PINGYU ZHU1, YONGRUI PIAO2, XIUZHE DONG2 and ZHEHU JIN3 1Department of Urology, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, Sichuan 637200; Departments of 2Urology, and 3Dermatology and Venereology, Affiliated Hospital of Yanbian University, Yanji, Jilin 133000, P.R. China Received July 7, 2014; Accepted March 20, 2015 DOI: 10.3892/ol.2015.3376 Abstract. The forkhead box (FOX) family of transcription Introduction factors are considered to have a role in tumorigenesis. FOXJ1 is a member of the FOX family; however, its function in human Human renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common type renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has remained to be elucidated. of malignant kidney tumor in adults worldwide, and ~85% of Therefore, the present study evaluated the expression of RCCs are clear cell RCC (CCRCC) (1). RCC is regarded as a FOXJ1 in human clear cell RCC and the effect of FOXJ1 on the localized disease in the early stages, however, 30% of patients proliferative ability of RCC cells. The RCC specimens analyzed with RCC that present with localized disease at the time of in the present study were obtained from 286 patients with RCC diagnosis develop metastatic disease within three years (2). who underwent nephrectomy. FOXJ1 mRNA expression levels Furthermore, the prognosis for metastatic RCC is poor (3) as were determined using reverse transcription-quantitative RCC is resistant to traditional chemotherapy (4,5) and alter- polymerase chain reaction, and FOXJ1 protein expression native therapeutic strategies for advanced RCC are limited. levels were determined using immunohistochemistry and At present, novel strategies for the treatment of advanced western blot analysis. To determine the effect of FOXJ1 on the RCC include molecular targeted therapy (6), monoclonal proliferative ability of RCC cells, the expression of FOXJ1 was antibodies (7), immunotherapy (8) and the suppression of decreased using small interfering (si)RNA, and a FOXJ1 vector signaling pathways (9). Although specific markers predicting was stably transfected into RCC cell lines. The proliferative the prognosis of advanced RCC and its potential therapeutic ability of RCC cells was then examined using a WST-1 assay response to treatment have been investigated, the molecular and xenograft experiments with BALB/c nude mice, where the mechanisms underlying the progression and development of association between FOXJ1 expression and patient survival RCC have remained elusive. was determined using Kaplan-Meier analysis. FOXJ1 expres- The forkhead box (FOX) family comprises numerous sion was significantly higher in RCC tissues compared with proteins with a wide spectrum of biological processes, that of healthy renal tissues. Furthermore, FOXJ1 expression including differentiation, metabolism, apoptosis, prolif- was associated with tumor stage, histologic grade and size. In eration, migration and invasion. FOX proteins contain addition, FOXJ1 significantly enhanced the proliferation of conserved transcriptional factors defined by a common RCC cells in vitro and in vivo. The present study identified that DNA-binding domain (10). Furthermore, the FOX family is FOXJ1 expression was upregulated in RCC and enhanced the divided into 19 subclasses and consists of 50 genes in the proliferative ability of RCC cells. Therefore, FOXJ1 may serve human genome (11). Previous studies have determined that as an independent prognostic marker and a therapeutic target FOX proteins are associated with carcinogenesis and the for the treatment of patients with RCC. progression of malignancies. For example, the expression of FOXM1 was increased in a variety of types of tumor, including basal cell and hepatocellular carcinoma, as well as lung, breast, prostate and colorectal cancer (12-17). FOXM1 may be associated with carcinogenesis due to its role as a key regu- lator in the G1/S and G2/M phases of the cell cycle (18-21). In addition, FOXO has been reported to be dysregulated in Correspondence to: Dr Yongrui Piao, Department of Urology, Affiliated Hospital of Yanbian University, 1327 Juzi Street, Yanji, various types of tumor, including prostate and breast cancer, Jilin 133000, P.R. China leukemia, glioblastoma and endometrial carcinoma (22-28); E-mail: [email protected] FOXA1 was overexpressed in thyroid, lung and esophageal cancer (29,30); and FOXC2 appears to be a key gene involved Key words: forkhead box J1, renal cell carcinoma, proliferation, in tumor progression and angiogenesis (31). prognosis, therapeutic target FOXJ1 is a transcription factor that is significant in the central nervous and reproductive systems (32-34). Previous studies have demonstrated that abnormal expression of 1488 ZHU et al: EXPRESSION OF FOXJI IN RENAL CELL CARCINOMA FOXJ1 is associated with autoimmune diseases and certain to staining intensity (-, negative; +, weak; ++, moderate; and inflammatory diseases (35,36). This association appears to be +++, strong). due to the ability of FOXJ1 to suppress T cell activity, resulting in spontaneous autoimmunity (37). In addition, FOXJ1 inhibits Western blot analysis. Western blot analysis was performed the humoral immune response in B cells, with FOXJ1 deficiency according to the manufacturer's instructions. Briefly, total in B cells being associated with germinal center formation protein was isolated from the CCRCC and healthy tissue samples and the development of autoantibodies (38). A previous study using lysis buffer (Sigma-Aldrich) as previously described (44), proposed that FOXJ1 expression was decreased in breast cancer, and the total protein concentration was determined using a thus, functioning as a tumor suppressor gene (39). However, Bradford dye-binding protein assay (Bio-Rad Laboratories, FOXJ1 expression was increased in hepatocellular carcinoma Inc., Hercules, CA, USA). Subsequently, 10% SDS-PAGE and was associated with poor prognosis. Furthermore, overex- (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.) was performed. FOXJ1 mono- pression of FOXJ1 appears to be involved in proliferation and clonal mouse anti-rat antibody (cat. no. sc-53139; 1;1,000; Santa cell-cycle progression. In brief, little is known regarding the Cruz Biotechnology, Inc.) was applied as the experimental potential roles of FOXJ1 in carcinogenesis (40). antibody and anti-β-actin monoclonal mouse anti-human The expression of FOXJ1 and its function in human RCC antibody (cat. no. ab6276; 1:5,000; Abcam, Cambridge, UK) is unclear. Therefore, the current study aimed to determine the was applied as a loading control at 37˚C for 2 h. The immune expression of FOXJ1 in human RCC and its effect on the prolif- complexes were evaluated using an enhanced chemilumines- erative ability of human RCC cells. cence system (GE Healthcare Life Sciences, Chalfont, UK). Materials and methods Reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reac‑ tion (RT‑qPCR). Total RNA was isolated from the CCRCC and Patients and samples. The current study included 286 patients healthy kidney tissues using an illustra™ QuickPrep mRNA with RCC that had undergone radical nephrectomy in the purification kit (GE Healthcare, Life Sciences), according to Department of Urology of the Affiliated Hospital of Yanbian the manufacturer's instructions, and RT was performed using University (Yanji, China) between April 2002 and March 2003. a First-Strand complementary (c)DNA synthesis kit (GE The histological cell type of all specimen slices was determined Healthcare Life Sciences). The PCR conditions were deter- by experienced pathologists and all samples were diagnosed mined according to the manufacturer's instructions as follows: as conventional CCRCC. The clinical tumor stages and Denaturation at 95˚C for 5 min, annealing for 30 cycles characteristics were classified according to the tumor node of 95˚C for 30 sec, 60˚C for 30 sec and 72˚C for 1 min and metastasis (TNM) classification system (41), and the nuclear extension at 72˚C for 10 min. RT-qPCR was performed using grade was evaluated according to the Fuhrman grading system LightCycler® FastStart DNA Master SYBR Green I (Roche of malignant tumors (42). RCC tissue samples and corre- Diagnostics GmbH, Indianapolis, USA) and the PCR prod- sponding healthy kidney tissues located at a maximal distance ucts were detected by agarose gel electrophoresis, followed from the tumor were collected immediately following surgical by quantification of the products using LightCycler (Roche resection. The samples were formalin‑fixed (Sigma‑Aldrich, Diagnostics GmbH). The primer sequences were as follows: St. Louis, MO, USA), dehydrated and paraffin-embedded FOXJ1 forward, 5'-TCGAGATGGCGGAGAGCTGG-3' and (Sigma-Aldrich). All tissue samples were maintained in liquid reverse, 5'-GATCCCAAGAAGGCCCCCAC-3'; GAPDH nitrogen (Sigma-Aldrich) prior to protein and RNA extraction. forward, 5'-ATCAAGAAGGTGGTGAAGCAG-3' and reverse, The patients were followed up every three months for a period 5'-TGGAGGAGTGGGTGTCGC-3'. All RT-qPCR experimental of 120 months. The present study was approved by the Ethics procedures were conducted in accordance with Minimum Committee of the Affiliated Hospital of Yanbian University and Information for Publication of Quantitative Real-Time PCR written consent was obtained from all patients. Experiments guidelines (45). Immunohistochemistry. All paraffin-embedded tissue Cell culture. Four RCC cell lines (Caki-1, NC65, ACHN, sections
Recommended publications
  • FOX) Proteins in Osteosarcoma Wentao Zhang1*, Ning Duan1*, Tao Song1, Zhong Li1, Caiguo Zhang2, Xun Chen1
    Journal of Cancer 2017, Vol. 8 1619 Ivyspring International Publisher Journal of Cancer 2017; 8(9): 1619-1628. doi: 10.7150/jca.18778 Review The Emerging Roles of Forkhead Box (FOX) Proteins in Osteosarcoma Wentao Zhang1*, Ning Duan1*, Tao Song1, Zhong Li1, Caiguo Zhang2, Xun Chen1 1. Department of Orthopaedics, Xi'an Hong-Hui Hospital affiliated to medical college of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China, 710054; 2. Department of Dermatology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA. * These authors contributed equally to this work. Corresponding authors: [email protected]; [email protected] © Ivyspring International Publisher. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-NC) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). See http://ivyspring.com/terms for full terms and conditions. Received: 2016.12.15; Accepted: 2017.02.27; Published: 2017.06.03 Abstract Osteosarcoma is the most common bone cancer primarily occurring in children and young adults. Over the past few years, the deregulation of a superfamily transcription factors, known as forkhead box (FOX) proteins, has been demonstrated to contribute to the pathogenesis of osteosarcoma. Molecular mechanism studies have demonstrated that FOX family proteins participate in a variety of signaling pathways and that their expression can be regulated by multiple factors. The dysfunction of FOX genes can alter osteosarcoma cell differentiation, metastasis and progression. In this review, we summarized the evidence that FOX genes play direct or indirect roles in the development and progression of osteosarcoma, and evaluated the emerging role of FOX proteins as targets for therapeutic intervention.
    [Show full text]
  • The Genetic Network of Forkhead Gene Family in Development of Brown Planthoppers
    biology Article The Genetic Network of Forkhead Gene Family in Development of Brown Planthoppers Hai-Yan Lin 1,2, Cheng-Qi Zhu 1,2, Hou-Hong Zhang 2, Zhi-Cheng Shen 2, Chuan-Xi Zhang 2,3 and Yu-Xuan Ye 1,2,* 1 The Rural Development Academy, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; [email protected] (H.-Y.L.); [email protected] (C.-Q.Z.) 2 Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; [email protected] (H.-H.Z.); [email protected] (Z.-C.S.); [email protected] (C.-X.Z.) 3 State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agro-Products, Institute of Plant Virology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China * Correspondence: [email protected] Simple Summary: Forkhead (Fox) genes encode a family of transcription factors defined by a ‘winged helix’ DNA-binding domain and play important roles in regulating the expression of genes involved in cell growth, proliferation, differentiation and longevity. However, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of the Fox gene family in animals. Here, we take an integrated study, which combines genomics, transcriptomics and phenomics, to construct the Fox gene genetic network in the brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens, a major rice pest. We show that FoxG, FoxQ, FoxA, FoxN1, FoxN2 and their potential target genes are indispensable for embryogenesis; FoxC, FoxJ1 and FoxP have complementary effects on late embryogenesis; FoxA, FoxNl and FoxQ are pleiotropism and also essential for nymph molting; FoxT belongs to a novel insect-specific Fox subfamily; and FoxL2 and FoxO are involved in the development of eggshells and wings, respectively.
    [Show full text]
  • Anti-Carcinogenic Glucosinolates in Cruciferous Vegetables and Their Antagonistic Effects on Prevention of Cancers
    molecules Review Anti-Carcinogenic Glucosinolates in Cruciferous Vegetables and Their Antagonistic Effects on Prevention of Cancers Prabhakaran Soundararajan and Jung Sun Kim * Genomics Division, Department of Agricultural Bio-Resources, National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rural Development Administration, Wansan-gu, Jeonju 54874, Korea; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Academic Editor: Gautam Sethi Received: 15 October 2018; Accepted: 13 November 2018; Published: 15 November 2018 Abstract: Glucosinolates (GSL) are naturally occurring β-D-thioglucosides found across the cruciferous vegetables. Core structure formation and side-chain modifications lead to the synthesis of more than 200 types of GSLs in Brassicaceae. Isothiocyanates (ITCs) are chemoprotectives produced as the hydrolyzed product of GSLs by enzyme myrosinase. Benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC), phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) and sulforaphane ([1-isothioyanato-4-(methyl-sulfinyl) butane], SFN) are potential ITCs with efficient therapeutic properties. Beneficial role of BITC, PEITC and SFN was widely studied against various cancers such as breast, brain, blood, bone, colon, gastric, liver, lung, oral, pancreatic, prostate and so forth. Nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor-2 (Nrf2) is a key transcription factor limits the tumor progression. Induction of ARE (antioxidant responsive element) and ROS (reactive oxygen species) mediated pathway by Nrf2 controls the activity of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-κB). NF-κB has a double edged role in the immune system. NF-κB induced during inflammatory is essential for an acute immune process. Meanwhile, hyper activation of NF-κB transcription factors was witnessed in the tumor cells. Antagonistic activity of BITC, PEITC and SFN against cancer was related with the direct/indirect interaction with Nrf2 and NF-κB protein.
    [Show full text]
  • The Forkhead-Box Family of Transcription Factors: Key Molecular Players in Colorectal Cancer Pathogenesis Paul Laissue
    Laissue Molecular Cancer (2019) 18:5 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12943-019-0938-x REVIEW Open Access The forkhead-box family of transcription factors: key molecular players in colorectal cancer pathogenesis Paul Laissue Abstract Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly occurring cancer worldwide and the fourth most frequent cause of death having an oncological origin. It has been found that transcription factors (TF) dysregulation, leading to the significant expression modifications of genes, is a widely distributed phenomenon regarding human malignant neoplasias. These changes are key determinants regarding tumour’s behaviour as they contribute to cell differentiation/proliferation, migration and metastasis, as well as resistance to chemotherapeutic agents. The forkhead box (FOX) transcription factor family consists of an evolutionarily conserved group of transcriptional regulators engaged in numerous functions during development and adult life. Their dysfunction has been associated with human diseases. Several FOX gene subgroup transcriptional disturbances, affecting numerous complex molecular cascades, have been linked to a wide range of cancer types highlighting their potential usefulness as molecular biomarkers. At least 14 FOX subgroups have been related to CRC pathogenesis, thereby underlining their role for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment purposes. This manuscript aims to provide, for the first time, a comprehensive review of FOX genes’ roles during CRC pathogenesis. The molecular and functional characteristics of most relevant FOX molecules (FOXO, FOXM1, FOXP3) have been described within the context of CRC biology, including their usefulness regarding diagnosis and prognosis. Potential CRC therapeutics (including genome-editing approaches) involving FOX regulation have also been included. Taken together, the information provided here should enable a better understanding of FOX genes’ function in CRC pathogenesis for basic science researchers and clinicians.
    [Show full text]
  • Biophysical Investigation of the Dual Binding Surfaces of Human Transcription Factors FOXO4 and P53
    bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.11.425814; this version posted January 11, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. Biophysical investigation of the dual binding surfaces of human transcription factors FOXO4 and p53 Jinwoo Kim+, Dabin Ahn+, and Chin-Ju Park* Department of Chemistry, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, 61005, Korea *Correspondence to: [email protected]. + These authors contributed equally to this work. 1 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.11.425814; this version posted January 11, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. Abstract Cellular senescence is protective against external oncogenic stress, but its accumulation causes aging- related diseases. Forkhead box O4 (FOXO4) and p53 are human transcription factors known to promote senescence by interacting in the promyelocytic leukemia bodies. Inhibiting their binding is a strategy for inducing apoptosis of senescent cells, but the binding surfaces that mediate the interaction of FOXO4 and p53 remain elusive. Here, we investigated two binding sites involved in the interaction between FOXO4 and p53 by using NMR spectroscopy. NMR chemical shift perturbation analysis showed that the binding between FOXO4’s forkhead domain (FHD) and p53’s transactivation domain (TAD), and between FOXO4’s C-terminal transactivation domain (CR3) and p53’s DNA binding domain (DBD), mediate the FOXO4-p53 interaction.
    [Show full text]
  • Most Variable Genes and Transcription Factors in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Patients
    Interdisciplinary Sciences: Computational Life Sciences https://doi.org/10.1007/s12539-019-00325-y ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE Most Variable Genes and Transcription Factors in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Patients Anil Kumar Tomar1 · Rahul Agarwal2 · Bishwajit Kundu1 Received: 24 September 2018 / Revised: 21 January 2019 / Accepted: 26 February 2019 © International Association of Scientists in the Interdisciplinary Areas 2019 Abstract Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a hematologic tumor caused by cell cycle aberrations due to accumulating genetic disturbances in the expression of transcription factors (TFs), signaling oncogenes and tumor suppressors. Though survival rate in childhood ALL patients is increased up to 80% with recent medical advances, treatment of adults and childhood relapse cases still remains challenging. Here, we have performed bioinformatics analysis of 207 ALL patients’ mRNA expression data retrieved from the ICGC data portal with an objective to mark out the decisive genes and pathways responsible for ALL pathogenesis and aggression. For analysis, 3361 most variable genes, including 276 transcription factors (out of 16,807 genes) were sorted based on the coefcient of variance. Silhouette width analysis classifed 207 ALL patients into 6 subtypes and heat map analysis suggests a need of large and multicenter dataset for non-overlapping subtype classifcation. Overall, 265 GO terms and 32 KEGG pathways were enriched. The lists were dominated by cancer-associated entries and highlight crucial genes and pathways that can be targeted for designing more specifc ALL therapeutics. Diferential gene expression analysis identifed upregulation of two important genes, JCHAIN and CRLF2 in dead patients’ cohort suggesting their pos- sible involvement in diferent clinical outcomes in ALL patients undergoing the same treatment.
    [Show full text]
  • FOXS1 Is Regulated by GLI1 and Mir-125A-5P and Promotes Cell
    www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN FOXS1 is regulated by GLI1 and miR-125a-5p and promotes cell proliferation and EMT in gastric Received: 21 November 2018 Accepted: 14 March 2019 cancer Published: xx xx xxxx Sen Wang1,2, Longke Ran2,3, Wanfeng Zhang 2,3, Xue Leng1,2, Kexin Wang4, Geli Liu1,2, Jing Song2,3, Yujing Wang1,2, Xianqin Zhang1,2, Yitao Wang1,2, Lian Zhang1,2, Yan Ma5, Kun Liu1,2, Haiyu Li6, Wei Zhang7, Guijun Qin8 & Fangzhou Song1,2 Gastric cancer (GC) is the fourth most common malignant neoplasm and the second leading cause of cancer death. Identifcation of key molecular signaling pathways involved in gastric carcinogenesis and progression facilitates early GC diagnosis and the development of targeted therapies for advanced GC patients. Emerging evidence has revealed a close correlation between forkhead box (FOX) proteins and cancer development. However, the prognostic signifcance of forkhead box S1 (FOXS1) in patients with GC and the function of FOXS1 in GC progression remain undefned. In this study, we found that upregulation of FOXS1 was frequently detected in GC tissues and strongly correlated with an aggressive phenotype and poor prognosis. Functional assays confrmed that FOXS1 knockdown suppressed cell proliferation and colony numbers, with induction of cell arrest in the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle, whereas forced expression of FOXS1 had the opposite efect. Additionally, forced expression of FOXS1 accelerated tumor growth in vivo and increased cell migration and invasion through promoting epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, the core promoter region of FOXS1 was identifed at nucleotides −660~ +1, and NFKB1 indirectly bind the motif on FOXS1 promoters and inhibit FOXS1 expression.
    [Show full text]
  • Adaptive Autoimmunity and Foxp3- Based Immunoregulation in Zebrafish
    Adaptive Autoimmunity and Foxp3- Based Immunoregulation in Zebrafish The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Quintana, Francisco J., Antonio H. Iglesias, Mauricio F. Farez, Mario Caccamo, Evan J. Burns, Nasim Kassam, Mohamed Oukka, and Howard L. Weiner. 2010. Adaptive autoimmunity and Foxp3-based immunoregulation in zebrafish. PLoS ONE 5(3). Published Version doi://10.1371/journal.pone.0009478 Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:4882825 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Adaptive Autoimmunity and Foxp3-Based Immunoregulation in Zebrafish Francisco J. Quintana1*, Antonio H. Iglesias1, Mauricio F. Farez1, Mario Caccamo2, Evan J. Burns1, Nasim Kassam3, Mohamed Oukka3, Howard L. Weiner1* 1 Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, 2 EMBL Outstation - Hinxton, European Bioinformatics Institute, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 3 Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America Abstract Background: Jawed vertebrates generate their immune-receptor repertoire by a recombinatorial mechanism that has the potential to produce harmful autoreactive lymphocytes. In mammals, peripheral tolerance to self-antigens is enforced by Foxp3+ regulatory T cells. Recombinatorial mechanisms also operate in teleosts, but active immunoregulation is thought to be a late incorporation to the vertebrate lineage.
    [Show full text]
  • FOXM1: a Multifunctional Oncoprotein and Emerging Therapeutic Target in Ovarian Cancer
    cancers Review FOXM1: A Multifunctional Oncoprotein and Emerging Therapeutic Target in Ovarian Cancer Cassie Liu, Carter J. Barger and Adam R. Karpf * Eppley Institute and Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68918-6805, USA; [email protected] (C.L.); [email protected] (C.J.B.) * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +1-402-559-6115 Simple Summary: Ovarian cancer is a lethal disease in women with a 10-year survival rate of <40% worldwide. A key molecular alteration in ovarian cancer is the aberrant overexpression and activation of the transcription factor forkhead box M1 (FOXM1). FOXM1 regulates the expression of a multitude of genes that promote cancer, including those that increase the growth, survival, and metastatic spread of cancer cells. Importantly, FOXM1 overexpression is a robust biomarker for poor prognosis in pan-cancer and ovarian cancer. In this review, we first discuss the molecular mechanisms controlling FOXM1 expression and activity, with a specific emphasis on ovarian cancer. We then discuss the evidence for and the manner by which FOXM1 expression promotes aggressive cancer biology. Finally, we discuss the clinical utility of FOXM1, including its potential as a cancer biomarker and as a therapeutic target in ovarian cancer. Abstract: Forkhead box M1 (FOXM1) is a member of the conserved forkhead box (FOX) transcription factor family. Over the last two decades, FOXM1 has emerged as a multifunctional oncoprotein and a robust biomarker of poor prognosis in many human malignancies. In this review article, we address the current knowledge regarding the mechanisms of regulation and oncogenic functions of FOXM1, Citation: Liu, C.; Barger, C.J.; Karpf, particularly in the context of ovarian cancer.
    [Show full text]
  • FAM188B Expression Is Critical for Cell Growth Via FOXM1 Regulation in Lung Cancer
    biomedicines Article FAM188B Expression Is Critical for Cell Growth via FOXM1 Regulation in Lung Cancer Young Eun Choi 1, Hamadi Madhi 2 , HaEun Kim 1,3 , Jeon-Soo Lee 1, Myung-Hee Kim 2, Yong-Nyun Kim 1,* and Sung-Ho Goh 1,* 1 Research Institute, National Cancer Center, 323 Ilsan-ro, Goyang 10408, Korea; [email protected] (Y.E.C.); [email protected] (H.K.); [email protected] (J.-S.L.) 2 Department of Anatomy, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 03722, Korea; [email protected] (H.M.); [email protected] (M.-H.K.) 3 Department of Experimental Medicine, McGill University, Canada 845 Rue Sherbrooke O, Montréal, QC H3A 0G4, Canada * Correspondence: [email protected] (Y.-N.K.); [email protected] (S.-H.G.); Tel.: +82-31-920-2477 (S.-H.G.) Received: 7 October 2020; Accepted: 30 October 2020; Published: 31 October 2020 Abstract: Although family with sequence similarity 188 member B (FAM188B) is known to be a member of a novel putative deubiquitinase family, its biological role has not been fully elucidated. Here, we demonstrate the oncogenic function of FAM188B via regulation of forkhead box M1 (FOXM1), another oncogenic transcription factor, in lung cancer cells. FAM188B knockdown induced the inhibition of cell growth along with the downregulation of mRNA and protein levels of FOXM1. FAM188B knockdown also resulted in downregulation of Survivin and cell cycle-related proteins, which are direct targets of FOXM1. Interestingly, FOXM1 co-immunoprecipitated with FAM188B, and the levels of FOXM1 ubiquitination increased with FAM188B knockdown but decreased with FAM188B overexpression.
    [Show full text]
  • Post‑Translational Modifications of FOXO Family Proteins (Review)
    MOLECULAR MEDICINE REPORTS 14: 4931-4941, 2016 Post‑translational modifications of FOXO family proteins (Review) ZIYAO WANG1, TINGHE YU2 and PING HUANG1 1National Key Clinical Department, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University; 2Chongqing Key Medical Laboratory of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400000, P.R. China Received September 23, 2015; Accepted September 21, 2016 DOI: 10.3892/mmr.2016.5867 Abstract. The Forkhead box O (FOXO) protein family is 1. Introduction predominantly involved in apoptosis, oxidative stress, DNA damage/repair, tumor angiogenesis, glycometabolism, regu- In 1989, Weigel et al (1) first cloned the fork genes (fkh) lating life span and other important biological processes. Its from fruit flies, and discovered that the encoded protein activity is affected by a variety of posttranslational modi- was essential for the normal development of embryos (1,2). fications (PTMs), including phosphorylation, acetylation, Currently, researchers have identified >100 types of Forkhead ubiquitination, methylation and glycosylation. When cells are box (Fox) proteins present in almost all eukaryotes from subjected to different environments, the corresponding PTMs yeast to humans (3). Fox protein families have a conserved act on the FOXO protein family, to change transcriptional DNA-binding region, which can specifically bind to the activity or subcellular localization, and the expression of conserved DNA sequence 5'-TTG TTT AC-3' (4). The spatial downstream target genes, will ultimately affect the biological structure of the Fox protein exhibits a ‘helix-turn-helix' behavior of the cells. In this review, we will discuss the structure, which resembles a fork, thus, providing the name biological characteristics of FOXO protein PTMs.
    [Show full text]
  • Hedgehog Signaling in the Neural Crest Cells Regulates the Patterning and Growth of Facial Primordia
    Downloaded from genesdev.cshlp.org on September 25, 2021 - Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press Hedgehog signaling in the neural crest cells regulates the patterning and growth of facial primordia Juhee Jeong,1 Junhao Mao,1 Toyoaki Tenzen,1 Andreas H. Kottmann,2,3 and Andrew P. McMahon1,4 1Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA; 2Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA Facial abnormalities in human SHH mutants have implicated the Hedgehog (Hh) pathway in craniofacial development, but early defects in mouse Shh mutants have precluded the experimental analysis of this phenotype. Here, we removed Hh-responsiveness specifically in neural crest cells (NCCs), the multipotent cell type that gives rise to much of the skeleton and connective tissue of the head. In these mutants, many of the NCC-derived skeletal and nonskeletal components are missing, but the NCC-derived neuronal cell types are unaffected. Although the initial formation of branchial arches (BAs) is normal, expression of several Fox genes, specific targets of Hh signaling in cranial NCCs, is lost in the mutant. The spatially restricted expression of Fox genes suggests that they may play an important role in BA patterning. Removing Hh signaling in NCCs also leads to increased apoptosis and decreased cell proliferation in the BAs, which results in facial truncation that is evident by embryonic day 11.5 (E11.5). Together, our results demonstrate that Hh signaling in NCCs is essential for normal patterning and growth of the face.
    [Show full text]