title: Altered expression of the KLF4 in colorectal cancers.
abstract: KLF4 is an important regulator of cell proliferation and is maximally expressed in epithelial cells of the gastrointestinal tract. Inactivation of the KLF4 gene by genetic and epigenetic alterations has been reported in colorectal cancers, but the expression pattern of the KLF4 protein has not been studied. Here, to investigate the roles of KLF4 in colorectal carcinogenesis, we examined the expression pattern of the KLF4 protein in 123 colorectal cancers by immunohistochemistry using tissue microarray. Moderate to strong nuclear staining for KLF4 was found in normal colonic mucosa. Interestingly, loss of KLF4 expression was observed in 30 (24.4%) of 123 colorectal cancers. Statistically, loss of KLF4 protein expression was not associated with clinocopathologic parameters, including tumor stage (Bartholomew test, P>0.05), lymph node metastasis, differentiation, tumor location, and tumor size (chi2 test, P>0.05). These results indicate that loss of the KLF4 expression might play a role in tumor development as an early event for a subset of colorectal cancers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 505 Banpo-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul 137-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Byung Joon
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Yong Gu
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Jae Whie
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Chang Jae
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Su Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Suk Woo
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Nam
authors.forename: Nam Jin
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.forename: Jung Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Won Sang
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000556:secondary; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D003106:Colon / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D019085:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Direct; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D000090062:Kruppel-Like Factor 4; D051741:Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis; D016335:Zinc Fingers
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C000715467:KLF4 protein, human; D000090062:Kruppel-Like Factor 4; D051741:Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors