FOXS1 is regulated by GLI1 and miR-125a-5p and promotes cell proliferation and EMT in gastric cancer

Gastric cancer (GC) is the fourth most common malignant neoplasm and the second leading cause of cancer death. Identification 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 significance of forkhead box S1 (FOXS1) in patients with GC and the function of FOXS1 in GC progression remain undefined. 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 confirmed 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 effect. 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 identified at nucleotides −660~ +1, and NFKB1 indirectly bind the motif on FOXS1 promoters and inhibit FOXS1 expression. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed that the FOXS1 gene was most abundantly enriched in the hedgehog signaling pathway and that GLI1 expression was significantly correlated with FOXS1 expression in GC. GLI1 directly bound to the promoter motif of FOXS1 and significantly decreased FOXS1 expression. Finally, we found that miR-125a-5p repressed FOXS1 expression at the translational level by binding to the 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of FOXS1. Together, these results suggest that FOXS1 can promote GC development and could be exploited as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for GC.