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Updated: Apr 12, 2026
Characterization of Functionally Associated miRNAs in Glioblastoma and their Engineering into Artificial Clusters for Gene Therapy
Published on: October 4, 2019
Transcriptomic profiling of Forkhead box transcription factors in adult glioblastoma multiforme
Emily Robertson1, Christina Perry2, Rachel Doherty1
1Academic Unit of Oncology, Division of Cancer and Stem Cells, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham University Hospitals, Nottingham, U.K.
Background:
The Forkhead box transcription factor (FOX) family plays an essential role in embryogenesis, especially during brain development. Our hypothesis is that de-regulation of FOX genes may contribute to aggressive tumor biology and therapy resistance in patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).
Materials And Methods:
Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to evaluate prognostic significance of transcript levels of 31 FOX genes in a test set of GBM patients (n=191) and validated them in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohort comprising of 508 adult cases of GBM. The predictive significance of key FOX genes was investigated in patients who received chemotherapy or radiotherapy.
Results:
Low FOXA2 mRNA, low FOXN2 mRNA, low FOXN3 mRNA and high FOXG1 mRNA were associated with poor survival in the test and TCGA validation cohorts. In multivariate analysis, low FOXA2 mRNA, low FOXN2 mRNA, low FOXN3 mRNA and high FOXG1 mRNA remained independently associated with poor survival in the test and TCGA validation cohorts. In patients who received chemotherapy or radiotherapy, low FOXA2 mRNA, low FOXN2 mRNA and high FOXG1 mRNA correlated with adverse outcomes in the TCGA validation cohort.
Conclusion:
To our knowledge, our data provide the first comprehensive clinical evidence that FOXA2, FOXN2, FOXN3 and FOXG1 are promising biomarkers of GBM and warrant further investigation.
