Expression and mechanism of forkhead box C1 in colorectal cancer
JIANG Ya-ping
YU Chang-fa
CAI Sha-sha
FU Jun-hui
Abstract：Objective To investigate the expression and regulatory mechanisms of Forkhead box C1(FOXC1)in colorectal cancer(CRC)tissues.Methods A total of 60 CRC cases diagnosed between January 2019 and December 2020 were analyzed.The protein localization and expression levels of FOXC1 in cancerous and adjacent non-cancerous tissues were compared using the streptavidin-peroxidase(S-P)immunohistochemical method.Cell proliferation was as-sessed using CCK-8 assays,and dynamic changes in apoptosis-and autophagy-related proteins were evaluated via Western blotting.Results Immunohistochemistry revealed a significantly higher FOXC1 expression rate in tumor tissues compared to adjacent tissues(P＜0.05).FOXC1 expression levels were significantly associated with TNM stage,histo-logical differentiation,and lymph node metastasis(P＜0.05).Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that patients with low FOXC1 expression had better survival than those with high expression(P＜0.05).Cox regression analysis indicated that FOXC1 expression,TNM stage,lymph node metastasis,and tumor differentiation were independent prognostic factors(P＜0.05).Mechanistically,FOXC1 suppression led to decreased cell proliferation and activated apoptosis-and auto-phagy-related proteins such as cleaved PARP1(C-PARP1)and LC3Ⅱ.Conversely,FOXC1 overexpression enhanced cell viability and inhibited the expression of C-PARP1 and LC3Ⅱ.Notably,treatment with the autophagy inhibitor 3-MA reversed the autophagy induced by FOXC1 knockdown.Conclusion FOXC1 is specifically overexpressed in colorec-tal cancer and promotes tumor progression by regulating the balance between apoptosis and autophagy.It may serve as a potential therapeutic target.
Keywords：forkhead box C1Colorectal cancerexpressionautophagy
Publication Date：2025-08-15
Online Publishing Date：2025-11-06(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 1206-1211 )