Mizuo Ando, Masahito Kawazu, Toshihide Ueno, Daizo Koinuma, Koji Ando, Junji Koya, Keisuke Kataoka, Takahiko Yasuda, Hiroyuki Yamaguchi, Kazutaka Fukumura, Azusa Yamato, Manabu Soda, Eirin Sai, Yoshihiro Yamashita, Takahiro Asakage, Yasushi Miyazaki, Mineo Kurokawa, Kohei Miyazono, Stephen D Nimer, Tatsuya Yamasoba, Hiroyuki Mano
ELF4 (also known as MEF) is a member of the ETS family of transcription factors. An oncogenic role for ELF4 has been demonstrated in hematopoietic malignancies, but its function in epithelial tumors remains unclear. Here, we show that ELF4 can function as a tumor suppressor and is somatically inactivated in a wide range of human tumors. We identified a missense mutation affecting the transactivation potential of ELF4 in oral squamous cell carcinoma cells. Restoration of the transactivation activity through introduction of wild-type ELF4 significantly inhibited cell proliferation in vitro and tumor xenograft growth...
April 1, 2016: Cancer Research