Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing TongRen Hospital, Capital Medical University, Eastern District, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
Mol Cell Biochem. 2012 Jan;360(1-2):301-7. doi: 10.1007/s11010-011-1069-x. Epub 2011 Oct 19.
ZFX (zinc finger protein, X-linked) gene locus on the human X chromosome is structurally similar to the zinc finger protein, Y-linked gene, which may constitute the primary sex-determining signal. However, the pathological roles of the dysfunction of ZFX gene in human disease such as cancer have not been addressed. Here, we analyzed the expression of ZFX in human laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) tissue specimens and found a significant up-regulation compared to corresponding non-tumorous LSCC tissue. Recombinant lentivirus expressing ZFX short hairpin RNA (shZFX) was constructed and infected Hep-2 human LSCC cells. We found that knockdown of ZFX gene resulted in suppression of proliferation and colony-forming ability of Hep-2 cells, and led to S phase cell cycle arrest. In addition, down-regulation of ZFX induced a significant enhancement of cell apoptosis and expression changes of apoptosis-related genes. These results suggest that high expression of ZFX is associated with LSCC progression and knockdown of ZFX may block tumor cell growth mainly by promoting cell apoptosis.
ZFX（锌指蛋白，X 连锁）基因位于人类 X 染色体上，其结构与锌指蛋白 Y 连锁基因相似，后者可能构成主要的性别决定信号。然而，ZFX 基因功能障碍在人类疾病（如癌症）中的病理作用尚未得到解决。在这里，我们分析了 ZFX 在人喉鳞状细胞癌（LSCC）组织标本中的表达，发现与相应的非肿瘤性 LSCC 组织相比，ZFX 表达显著上调。构建了表达 ZFX 短发夹 RNA（shZFX）的重组慢病毒，并感染 Hep-2 人 LSCC 细胞。我们发现，ZFX 基因的敲低导致 Hep-2 细胞增殖和集落形成能力受到抑制，并导致 S 期细胞周期停滞。此外，下调 ZFX 诱导细胞凋亡显著增强，并改变凋亡相关基因的表达。这些结果表明，ZFX 的高表达与 LSCC 进展有关，敲低 ZFX 可能主要通过促进细胞凋亡来阻断肿瘤细胞生长。
