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Old versus new: upstream and downstream of promyelocytic leukemia zinc finger protein

Cancer Gene Therapy volume 32, pages 750–761 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Promyelocytic leukemia zinc finger (PLZF) is a member of the zinc finger protein family and has been extensively studied due to its crucial role in influencing stem cell self-renewal, spermatogenesis, T cell differentiation, tumorigenesis, and development. Its function is regulated by multidimensional and multilevel regulation. Recent studies have explored the mechanism of action of PLZF in different diseases and related treatment strategies. This study aimed to summarize the regulatory mechanisms underlying PLZF expression and function, and update the latest PLZF regulatory targets and interacting molecules. We also summarized the mechanism by which PLZF promoted the transcriptional activation of target genes, besides its role as a transcriptional repressor. This study revealed a more detailed upstream and downstream regulatory mechanism of PLZF, providing directions for future research.

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Fig. 1: Schematic diagram of PLZF fragment deletion and fusion gene.
Fig. 2: Schematic representation of the multiple mechanisms that regulate PLZF function, expression, and protein stability.
Fig. 3: Evolution of PLZF transcriptional regulation research fields in the past two decades.

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Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank the cBioPortal database for providing pan-cancer data. Figures 2, 3 are drawn by FigDraw.

Funding

This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (82102700) and Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2024MH064, ZR2023MH342).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Kai Wang, Deyu Guo.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Oncology, Shandong Provincial Hospital affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, China

    Kai Wang, Shijie Sun, Kang Tian & Hongchang Shen

  2. Department of Healthcare Respiratory Medicine, Shandong Provincial Hospital affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, China

    Kai Wang

  3. Institute of Oncology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, China

    Deyu Guo & Jiajun Du

  4. Department of Thoracic Surgery, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, China

    Jiajun Du

Authors
  1. Kai Wang
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  2. Deyu Guo
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  3. Shijie Sun
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  4. Kang Tian
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  5. Hongchang Shen
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  6. Jiajun Du
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Contributions

KW, DG: Conceptualization, Investigation, Visualization, Writing - original draft; JD: Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing - review and editing; KT, SS: Data curation, Validation; HS: Funding acquisition. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jiajun Du.

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Wang, K., Guo, D., Sun, S. et al. Old versus new: upstream and downstream of promyelocytic leukemia zinc finger protein. Cancer Gene Ther 32, 750–761 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41417-025-00912-w

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