miR-519 Inhibits Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Biologic Behavior of Gastric Cancer Cells by Down-Regulating FOXQ1

: In recent years, a number of studies have shown that forkhead box Q1 (FOXQ1) plays an important role in the process of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of tumors. The aim of this study is to investigate the biologic functions of FOXQ1 and miR-519 in gastric cancer. It was found that FOXQ1 was highly expressed in gastric cancer cells and tumor tissues, and promoted proliferation, migration, invasion, and EMT of gastric cancer cells. miR-519 was weakly expressed in both gastric cancer tissues and gastric cancer cells, up-regulation of miR-519 inhibited the biologic behavior of gastric cancer cells, while down-regulation of miR-519 showed the opposite results. Additionally, miR-519 directly targeted FOXQ1 and inhibited FOXQ1 mRNA and protein expression. Overexpression of FOXQ1 in gastric cancer cells reversed the inhibitory effect of miR-519 on cellular biologic behavior. The results of the present study suggest that the abnormal expression of miR-519 and FOXQ1 may be closely related to gastric cancer development, and miR-519 may play an important role in suppressing tumor related genes in gastric cancer by targeting and regulating FOXQ1.