32 ± 0.14% vs. Zfx -siRNA 15.93 ± 0.77%, P = 0.001). These results indicate that Zfx expression is a determinant of human brain glioma U251 cell apoptosis. Figure 9 Knock down of Zfx in human malignant cell line U251

increased cell apoptosis. (A) Cell death was determined by Annexin V staining and flow cytometry. (B) Zfx-siRNA cultures showed a significant increase in buy Belinostat apoptosis compared with NC (P = 0.001; P < 0.05). 4. Discussion Recent research shows that Zfx is important for tumorigenesis. Zfx plays a pivotal role in embryonic stem cells and in hematopoietic stem cells. A recent study by Galan Caridad and his colleagues [12] showed that Zfx, is a shared transcriptional regulator of ESC and HSC, suggesting VEGFR inhibitor a common genetic basis of self-renewal

in embryonic and adult stem cells. Previous work by Gang Hu et al[13] based on a genome-wide siRNA screen in mouse embryonic stem cells found 148 genes whose down-regulation caused differentiation. The study further discovered that a unique module in the self-renewal transcription network is formed by Cnot3, Trim28, c-Myc, and Zfx. The transcriptional Mizoribine chemical structure targets of this module are enriched for genes involved in cell cycle, cell death, and cancer, and may represent novel anti-cancer targets. Recently, Arenzana et al also reported that Zfx is a novel transcriptional regulator of the B-cell lineage, and one of the common genetic control genes of both stem cell maintenance and lymphocyte homeostasis [14]. The present study discovered that Zfx expression is significantly higher in both Edoxaban Follicular Lymphoma (FL) and Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and may be used for prognostic purposes in the clinic

[15]. Huang D [16] and others found that stem cell-related genes (including OCT-4, SOX-2, BMI-1, and ZFX) were upregulated in SP(side population) cells of human esophageal carcinoma 9706 cells compared with non-SP cells. To date, most research has focused on the expression and function of Zfx in embryonic stem cells and hematopoietic stem cells. In oncology researches, studies discovered that Zfx is abnormally expressed in prostate cancer, breast cancer, and leukemia [15]. However, its expression and function in human glioma had not been studied. Thus, we first explored the expression levels of Zfx mRNA in four glioma cell lines and found that it was expressed in all of them. We then detected the expression level of Zfx mRNA in glioma samples and in noncancerous brain tissue. Zfx was more highly expressed in glioma samples than in noncancerous brain tissue To some extent, we also found that Zfx expression increased with increasing tumor grade (however, this was not true for Grades III or IV). This may be due to the fact that Zfx mutations may occur at high frequency in high grade malignant gliomas.