Zinc finger protein HZF1 promotes K562 cell proliferation by interacting with and inhibiting INCA1.

Previously, we characterized a zinc finger protein gene HZF1 (ZNF16) and demonstrated that it played a significant role in the erythroid and megakaryocytic differentiation of K562 cells by knockdown of the gene. In this study, we examined the effect of HZF1 on the proliferation and apoptosis of K562 cells and identified the possible mechanism for this effect. By lentivirus-mediated gene transfer, we obtained stable K562 transductants with HZF1 overexpression (K562/WPXL-HZF1) and stable control transductants (K562/WPXL).

[Expression of human HZF1 in E. coli and preparation of antibody against human HZF1 protein].

Objective: To express human HZF1 fusion protein in E. coli and to obtain an anti-HZF1 antibody.

Methods: A DNA fragment encoding non-zinc finger region of HZF1 protein was inserted into pET30a vector to get the recombination expression plasmid pET30a-HZF1.

Differential expression changes in K562 cells during the hemin-induced erythroid differentiation and the phorbol myristate acetate (PMA)-induced megakaryocytic differentiation.

K562 cell line has been used as a model of common progenitor of erythroblasts and magakaryocytes and can be differentiated into erythroid and megakaryocytic lineages by hemin and phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) respectively. We analyzed mRNA expression in un-induced, hemin-induced and PMA-induced K562 cells by differential display reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (DDRT-PCR) method. 314 differential expression sequence tags (ESTs) were obtained.

[Isolation of new Zinc finger genes through cDNA library screening combined with RACE].

Most of the important functionally proteins contain the corresponding function domains that consist of conserved amino acid sequences. The study provided a method to identify novel genes that encode proteins containing important functionally domains with conserved sequences. First, primers were designed according to the sequence of the cDNA library vector and the ESTs that have been obtained by reverse PCR and degenerate primers encoding Zinc finger domain.

T to C substitution at -175 or -173 of the gamma-globin promoter affects GATA-1 and Oct-1 binding in vitro differently but can independently reproduce the hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin phenotype in transgenic mice.

The T to C substitution at position -175 of the gamma-globin gene has been identified in some individuals with non-deletion hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin (HPFH). In this study, the HPFH phenotype was reestablished in transgenic mice carrying the mu'LCRAgamma(-175)psibetadeltabeta construct, which contained a 3.1-kb mu'LCR cassette linked to a 29-kb fragment from the Agamma-to beta-globin gene with the natural chromosome arrangement but with the -175 mutation, which provided evidence for this single mutation as the cause of this form of HPFH.