In the present study, we reveal that CAFs induce forkhead box Q1 (FOXQ1) expression, and N-myc downstream-regulated gene 1 (NDRG1) is therefore trans-activated to enhance HCC initiation.
The subgroup analysis suggested that the elevated levels of FOXQ1 appear to be associated with worse OS in hepatocellular carcinoma (HR =1.34; 95% CI: 1.11-1.57; <i>P</i><0.001) and other cancers (HR =1.62; 95% CI: 1.09-2.14; <i>P</i><0.001).
Our data indicated that both Foxp1 and Foxq1 genes played an oncogenic role in hepatocarcinoma cells, which proposed the two genes as new therapeutic targets for the cancer.
Knockdown of ZEB2 decreased FoxQ1-enhanced HCC metastasis, whereas up-regulation of ZEB2 rescued the decreased metastasis induced by FoxQ1 knocking down.