// Dan Li 1, * , Xiang Zhao 1, * , Yong Xiao 1, * , Hong Mei 1 , Jiarui Pu 1 , Xuan Xiang 1 , Wanju Jiao 2 , Huajie Song 1 , Hongxia Qu 1 , Kai Huang 3, 4 , Liduan Zheng 2, 3 , Qiangsong Tong 1, 3 1 Department of Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, P. R. China 2 Department of Pathology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, P. R. China 3 Clinical Center of Human Genomic Research, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, P. R. China 4 Department of Cardiology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, P. R. China * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Qiangsong Tong, e-mail: qs_tong@hotmail.com Liduan Zheng, e-mail: ld_zheng@hotmail.com Keywords: gastric cancer, intelectin 1, hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha, nuclear factor-kappa B Received: October 02, 2014 Accepted: April 06, 2015 Published: April 20, 2015 ABSTRACT Recent evidence shows the emerging roles of intelectin 1 (ITLN1), a secretory lectin, in human cancers. Our previous studies have implicated the potential roles of ITLN1 in the aggressiveness of gastric cancer. Herein, we investigated the functions, downstream targets, and clinical significance of ITLN1 in the progression of gastric cancer. We demonstrated that ITLN1 increased the levels of hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha (HNF4α), resulting in suppression of nuclear translocation and transcriptional activity of β-catenin in gastric cancer cells. Mechanistically, ITLN1 attenuated the activity of nuclear factor-kappa B, a transcription factor repressing the HNF4α expression, in gastric cancer cells through inactivating the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/AKT/Ikappa B kinase signaling. Gain- and loss-of-function studies demonstrated that ITLN1 suppressed the growth, invasion, and metastasis of gastric cancer cells in vitro and in vivo . In addition, restoration of HNF4α expression prevented the gastric cancer cells from ITLN1-mediated changes in these biological features. In clinical gastric cancer tissues, HNF4α expression was positively correlated with that of ITLN1. Patients with high ITLN1 or HNF4α expression had greater survival probability. Taken together, these data indicate that ITLN1 suppresses the progression of gastric cancer through up-regulation of HNF4α, and is associated with improved survival in patients with gastric cancer.