Entrez Gene

General information | Expression | Regulation | Mutation | Interaction

Basic Information
Gene ID	3170
Name	FOXA2
Synonymous	HNF3B\|TCF3B;forkhead box A2;FOXA2;forkhead box A2
Definition	HNF-3-beta\|HNF-3B\|TCF-3B\|forkhead box protein A2\|hepatic nuclear factor-3-beta\|hepatocyte nuclear factor 3, beta\|hepatocyte nuclear factor 3-beta\|transcription factor 3B
Position	20p11
Gene type	protein-coding
Source	Count: 1; Generif
Sentence	Abstract
"Expression of HNF3 beta led to significant growth reduction, proliferation arrest, apoptosis, and loss of clonogenic ability, suggesting additionally that HNF3 beta is a novel tumor suppressor in lung cancer."	We showed previously that CCAAT/enhancer binding protein alpha (C/EBP alpha), a tissue-specific transcription factor, is a candidate tumor suppressor in lung cancer. In the present study, we have performed a transcriptional profiling study of C/EBP alpha target genes using an inducible cell line system. This study led to the identification of hepatocyte nuclear factor 3beta (HNF3 beta), a transcription factor known to play a role in airway differentiation, as a downstream target of C/EBP alpha. We found down-regulation of HNF3 beta expression in a large proportion of lung cancer cell lines examined and identified two novel mutants of HNF3 beta, as well as hypermethylation of the HNF3 beta promoter. We also developed a tetracycline-inducible cell line model to study the cellular consequences of HNF3 beta expression. Conditional expression of HNF3 beta led to significant growth reduction, proliferation arrest, apoptosis, and loss of clonogenic ability, suggesting additionally that HNF3 beta is a novel tumor suppressor in lung cancer. This is the first study to show genetic abnormalities of lung-specific differentiation pathways in the development of lung cancer.