ZNF282 (Zinc finger protein 282), a novel E2F1 co-activator, promotes esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Zinc finger protein 282 (ZNF282) is a newly identified transcription factor and little is known about its expression and function. Originally, ZNF282 is known to bind U5RE (U5 repressive element) of HLTV-1 (human T cell leukemia virus type 1) with a repressive effect. Recently we reported that ZNF282 functions as an estrogen receptor co-activator and plays an essential role in breast tumorigenesis. Although these results suggest the possible role of ZNF282 in cancers, clinical significance and function of ZNF282 are completely unknown in most of cancers. Here we found that ZNF282 was frequently overexpressed in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) (n=165) compared with normal esophageal epithelium and its overexpression was correlated with adverse clinical outcome. Multivariate survival analysis indicated that ZNF282 expression was an independent prognostic predictor for poor survival in ESCC (HR: 2.56 (95% CI 1.54-4.26), p