ZNF424, a novel human KRAB/C2H2 zinc finger protein, suppresses NFAT and p21 pathway.

Zinc finger-containing transcription factors are the largest single family of transcriptional regulators in mammals, which play an essential role in cell differentiation, cell proliferation, apoptosis, and neoplastic transformation. Here we have cloned a novel KRAB-related zinc finger gene, ZNF424, encoding a protein of 555aa. ZNF424 gene consisted of 4 exons and 3 introns, and mapped to chromosome 19p13.3. ZNF424 gene was ubiquitously expressed in human embryo tissues by Northern blot analysis. ZNF424 is conserved across species in evolution. Using a GFP-labeled ZNF424 protein, we demonstrate that ZNF424 localizes mostly in the nucleus. Transcriptional activity assays shows ZNF424 suppresses transcriptional activity of L8G5-luciferase. Overexpression of ZNF424 in HEK- 293 cells inhibited the transcriptional activity of NFAT and p21, which may be silenced by siRNA. The results suggest that ZNF424 protein may act as a transcriptional repressor that suppresses NFAT and p21 pathway to mediate cellular functions.