# FOXA1

Source: https://onco.cc/targets/foxa1/  
OnCo record `foxa1` (Target). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

FOXA1 (Hepatocyte nuclear factor 3-alpha) is a protein that switches other genes on and off. The public catalogues list it as a drug target, an oncogene driver, a tumour suppressor and a biomarker, and clinical evidence ties its variants to diagnosis, prognosis or drug response. Tied to Prostate cancer, Breast cancer, Neuroendocrine tumours and 1 more.

## Summary

Transcription factor that is involved in embryonic development, establishment of tissue-specific gene expression and regulation of gene expression in differentiated tissues. Is thought to act as a 'pioneer' factor opening the compacted chromatin for other proteins through interactions with nucleosomal core histones and thereby replacing linker histones at target enhancer and/or promoter sites. Binds DNA with the consensus sequence 5'-[AC]A[AT]T[AG]TT[GT][AG][CT]T[CT]-3'.

CIViC holds 1 clinical evidence item and 0 assertions across 1 variant, naming Aromatase Inhibitor. Open Targets scores its association with cancer at 0.79 (direct and indirect evidence; datatypes affected pathway 0.57, literature 1.00, genetic association 0.26, somatic mutation 0.97, animal model 0.30). IntOGen calls it a driver in 15 cohorts (11 activating, 4 loss-of-function), covering Invasive Breast Carcinoma, Prostate Adenocarcinoma.

## Fields

- Kind: Target
- Last checked: 2026-09-23
- Also known as: forkhead box A1; Hepatocyte nuclear factor 3-alpha; HNF3A
- Tags: cancer-genes-wave
- Symbol: FOXA1
- Class: transcription
- Biology: Transcription factor that is involved in embryonic development, establishment of tissue-specific gene expression and regulation of gene expression in differentiated tissues. Is thought to act as a 'pioneer' factor opening the compacted chromatin for other proteins through interactions with nucleosomal core histones and thereby replacing linker histones at target enhancer and/or promoter sites. Binds DNA with the consensus sequence 5'-[AC]A[AT]T[AG]TT[GT][AG][CT]T[CT]-3'. Proposed to play a role in translating the epigenetic signatures into cell type-specific enhancer-driven transcriptional programs. Its differential recruitment to chromatin is dependent on distribution of histone H3 methylated at 'Lys-5' (H3K4me2) in oestrogen-regulated genes. Involved in the development of multiple endoderm-derived organ systems such as liver, pancreas, lung and prostate; FOXA1 and FOXA2 seem to have at least in part redundant roles. Location: Nucleus (UniProt). Locus 14q21.1 (HGNC).
- Where found: Prostate cancer: Open Targets association 0.73 with prostate cancer (MONDO_0008315); IntOGen driver in 11 cohorts (PRAD); Breast cancer: Open Targets association 0.72 with breast cancer (MONDO_0007254); IntOGen driver in 4 cohorts (BRCA); Neuroendocrine tumours: Open Targets association 0.51 with neuroendocrine neoplasm (MONDO_0019496); HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer: CIViC evidence names this disease

## Notes

- Written by scripts/fetch-cancer-genes.ts from CIViC, Open Targets, IntOGen, HGNC and UniProt; the function text is UniProt's, condensed and in UK spelling. Roles: CIViC lists 1 therapies; IntOGen calls it an activating (Act) driver in 11 cohorts; IntOGen calls it a loss-of-function (LoF) driver in 4 cohorts; CIViC holds 1 clinical evidence items on its variants. Evidence tier "clinical-evidence" is the strongest of those signals.
- Prevalence not recorded: none of the sources gives a positivity rate.

## Sources

- HGNC HGNC:5021: https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:5021
- UniProt P55317: https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P55317/entry
- NCBI Gene 3169: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/3169
- Ensembl ENSG00000129514: https://www.ensembl.org/Homo_sapiens/Gene/Summary?g=ENSG00000129514

## Connected records

- collections: [CIViC](https://onco.cc/collections/civic/), [IntOGen](https://onco.cc/collections/intogen/), [Open Targets Platform](https://onco.cc/collections/open-targets/)
- cancers: [Breast cancer (all types)](https://onco.cc/cancers/breast-cancer/), [HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/breast-hr-positive/), [Neuroendocrine tumours](https://onco.cc/cancers/neuroendocrine/), [Prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/prostate/)
- pathways: [Oestrogen receptor signalling](https://onco.cc/pathways/er-signaling/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/foxa1.json