Overexpression of the human ZNF300 gene enhances growth and metastasis of cancer cells through activating NF-kB pathway

Zinc finger proteins (ZNF) play important roles in various physiological processes. Here we report that ZNF300, a novel zinc finger protein, identified specifically in humans, promotes tumour development by modulating the NF-κB pathway. Inflammatory factors were found to induce ZNF300 expression in HeLa cell line, and ZNF300 expression further enhanced NF-κB signalling by activating TRAF2 and physically interacting with IKKβ. Furthermore, ZNF300 overexpression increased ERK1/2 phosphorylation and the expression of c-myc, IL-6, and IL-8 but decreased the expression of p21(waf-1) and p27(Kip1); whose down-regulation led to the opposite effect. Most importantly, ZNF300 overexpression stimulated cancer cell proliferation in vitro and significantly enhanced tumour development and metastasis in mouse xenograft model, while knocking down ZNF300 led to the opposite effects. We have identified a novel function for ZNF300 in tumour development that may uniquely link inflammation and NF-κB to tumourigenesis in humans but not in mice.