Altered expression of the KLF4 in colorectal cancers.

KLF4 is an important regulator of cell proliferation and is maximally expressed in epithelial cells of the gastrointestinal tract. Inactivation of the KLF4 gene by genetic and epigenetic alterations has been reported in colorectal cancers, but the expression pattern of the KLF4 protein has not been studied. Here, to investigate the roles of KLF4 in colorectal carcinogenesis, we examined the expression pattern of the KLF4 protein in 123 colorectal cancers by immunohistochemistry using tissue microarray. Moderate to strong nuclear staining for KLF4 was found in normal colonic mucosa. Interestingly, loss of KLF4 expression was observed in 30 (24.4%) of 123 colorectal cancers. Statistically, loss of KLF4 protein expression was not associated with clinocopathologic parameters, including tumor stage (Bartholomew test, P>0.05), lymph node metastasis, differentiation, tumor location, and tumor size (chi2 test, P>0.05). These results indicate that loss of the KLF4 expression might play a role in tumor development as an early event for a subset of colorectal cancers.