Homeobox Protein C10 (HOXC10)

HOXC10 belongs to the homeobox family of genes.  This gene is one of several homeobox HOXC genes located in a cluster on chromosome 12. The protein level is controlled during cell differentiation and proliferation, which may indicate this protein has a role in origin activation. HOXC10 was 1 of 171 genes upregulated at least 1.5-fold in invasive cervical squamous cell carcinomas compared with squamous intraepithelial lesions and normal cervix samples. Elevated HOXC10 expression was associated with increased invasiveness of human papillomavirus-immortalized keratinocytes and cervical cancer-derived cell lines in vitro and in vivo. Knockdown of HOXC10 expression with short hairpin RNA reduced cell invasiveness.HOXC10 is homologous to mouse Hoxc10, which was previously called Hox3.6.