The zinc-finger protein KCMF1 is overexpressed during pancreatic cancer development and downregulation of KCMF1 inhibits pancreatic cancer development in mice

Potassium channel modulatory factor 1 (KCMF1) was found upregulated in a differential screen in the metaplastic epithelium in the pancreas of transforming growth factor (TGF)-alpha transgenic mice. Expression analysis indicated broad overexpression in human cancer tissues. Therefore, we investigated the hypothesis that KCMF1 promotes metaplastic changes and tumor development. KCMF1 represents an evolutionarily highly conserved protein with a 95% identity between human and zebrafish. KCMF1 is expressed during embryonic development and in the majority of adult tissues investigated. Upregulation of nuclear KCMF1 expression is evident in preneoplastic lesions and in several epithelial malignancies, such as pancreatic cancer in mice and humans. In cell culture and in the chicken chorioallantoic membrane model, KCMF1 enhances proliferation, migration and invasion of HEK-293 and Panc1 cells. In crossbreeding experiments, KCMF1-knockdown gene trap mice showed a reduced number and size of premalignant lesions and absence of pancreatic cancer formation in TGF-alpha transgenic mice. This effect is related to the decreased expression of G1 to S cell-cycle regulators such as cyclin D and cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4. Our data support the hypothesis that KCMF1 mediates pro-oncogenic functions in vitro and in vivo and downregulation of KCMF1 results in the inhibition of pancreatic cancer formation in mice. These effects are mediated through downregulation of cell-cycle control genes such as cyclin D and CDK4.