KLF4 induces apoptosis in T-ALL through the BCL2/BCLXL pathway

KLF4, also known as GKLF (gut KLF), is a member of the KLF zinc finger-containing transcription factor family. Klf4 together with Oct4, Sox2, and c-Mycare widely referred to as ‘Yamanaka factors’ because mouse somatic cells can be reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells following their ectopic expression. The transcription factor Kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) may induce tumorigenesis or suppress tumor growth in a tissue-dependent manner. In T cell leukemia and pre-B cell lymphoma cells, KLF4 acts as a tumor suppressor. We found that over expression of KLF4 induced human acute T cell lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) cell lines to undergo apoptosis through the BCL2/BCLXL pathway, and we confirmed KLF4-induced apoptosis in primary samples from T-ALL patients. We further characterized KLF4 function in human early and mature T cells. Our analysis uncovered that KLF4 suppressed the transcription of other T cell-associated genes in T-ALL.