Transcription factors regulated lung fibroblast invasion. (A–D) Knockdown of transcriptional factors was confirmed by qRT-PCR (A and B) and Western blotting (C and D). A, n = 9 for FOXF1, n = 4 for CREBRF, TSC22D1, and KLF9, n = 6 for MXI1, n = 3 for NFE2L2; B, n = 4 for HMGA2, n = 5 for DPF3. (E)FOXF1 and SEMA7A expressions showed negative correlation in scRNA-seq by SeqGeq. (F and G) Relative mRNA levels of FOXF1, SEMA7A, and collagen-related protein gene, ACTA2 and COL1A1 (F, n = 5 per group) and cell-surface expression of SEMA7A (G) after FOXF1 knockdown. (H–J) Representative images (H) and index quantification (I and J) of migration and invasion of fibroblasts after knockdown assay. I, FOXF1, CREBRF, TSC22D1, and MXI1, n = 6 for migration and invasion, KLF9, n = 3 for migration and invasion, NFE2L2, n = 3 for migration and n = 11 for invasion; J, HMGA2, n = 6 for migration and invasion, DPF3, n = 3 for migration and invasion. CTL, control; non, noninvasive; in, invasive. Three or four independent experiments were performed on fibroblasts from different patients (A, B, F, I, and J). Data are the mean ± SEM. Scale bar: 1 mm. *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01; ***, P < 0.001; ****, P < 0.0001 by Student’s t test. Source data are available for this figure: SourceData F4.