FOXP4-mediated induction of PTK7 activates the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway and promotes ovarian cancer development

Ovarian cancer (OC) presents a significant challenge in clinical settings due to its difficulty in early diagnosis and its resistance to treatment. FOXP4 is a member of the FOXP subfamily and is involved in various biological processes including embryonic development, cell cycle regulation, and tumorigenesis. Despite its potential role in cancer, the exact function and significance of FOXP4 in OC remain uncertain. Here we showed that FOXP4 was expressed at high levels in OC, and its high expression was associated with poor prognosis. Furthermore, RNA sequencing and functional analysis of cells lacking FOXP4 suggest that FOXP4 contributes to the activation of the Wnt signaling pathway, leading to the amplification of the malignant phenotype in OV. Mechanistically, FOXP4 directly induces the expression of protein tyrosine kinase 7 (PTK7), a Wnt-binding receptor tyrosine pseudokinase, leading to abnormal activation of the Wnt signaling pathway. Disrupting the FOXP4-Wnt feedback loop by inactivating the Wnt signaling pathway or reducing FOXP4 expression resulted in the reduction of the malignant phenotype of OC cells, while restoring PTK7 expression reversed this effect. In conclusion, our findings highlight the importance of FOXP4 in the activation of the Wnt signaling pathway in OC and provide evidence for the potential therapeutic value of targeting this pathway in the treatment of the disease. Overall design: In order to study the FOXP4 role in ovarian cancer as well as the mechanism, we established the FOXP4 knockout (KO) and FOXP4 wild - type of 293 t cell line (WT). We then performed gene expression profiling using RNA-seq data from FOXP4_Con and FOXP4_KO1 cells.