We performed ChIP-seq in four cancer cell lines (representing kidney, colon, prostate, and breast cancers) to identify ZFX binding sites throughout the human genome.
The pooled results indicated that cancer patients with high ZFX expression have shorter overall survival times (HR=2.26, 95%CI:1.77-2.75, P=0.000) than those with low ZFX expression.
Recently, studies have affirmed that ZFX is associated with several human cancers, including lymphoma, laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma, prostate cancer, and liver cancer, which suggests ZFX as a potential therapeutic target in cancer.
Taken together, our results show, for the first time, commonly overexpressions of ZFX in HCC, where it likely contributes to the stemness and pluripotent behavior of this highly malignant cancer.