HOXB9 promotes endometrial cancer progression by targeting E2F3

YOXB9, as a HOX family transcription factor, playing a significant role in embryonic development and cancer progression However, the function of HOXB9 and its precise mechanism in regulating endometrial cancer progression remains unknown Here, we demonstrated that the expression of HOXB9 was increased in endometrial cancer, and associated with histological grade and lymph node metastasis In addition, elevated HOXB9 predicts a poor prognosis in endometrial cancer patients Interestingly, bioinformatics analysis of TCGA cancer database showed that HOXB9 expression is positively correlated with E2F3 expression Moreover, HOXB9 promoted E2F3 expression by directly targeting to its promoter Furthermore, we found that knocking down E2F3 abolished the ability of HOXB9 in enhancing cell migration Taken together, for the first, we demonstrated the function and mechanism of HOXB9 in regulating endometrial cancer progression, and indicated HOXB9 may be a novel prognostic marker of endometrial cancer.