Statin and tBHQ decrease KLF1 and BCL11A in primary human erythroid cells. Human CD34⁺ peripheral blood cells were treated with statin and tBHQ during in vitro erythroid differentiation. For each drug treatment, gene expression on days 7-20 and mRNA expressed as AUC are shown for each gene (combined data from 2 independent experiments and 2 different donors). (A) KLF1 gene expression and (B) BCL11a gene expression. (C-D) Effect of tBHQ, simvastatin, and the combination on KLF1 and BCL11A protein expression on days 14, 16, and 18 of differentiation. KLF1 and BCL11A were separated using a 15% and 10% SDS-polyacrylamide gel, respectively. Cell lysate from an adult CLL patient was used as a positive control for BCL11A XL. The percentage of GPA⁺ cells (E) and CD71⁺ cells (F) throughout erythroid differentiation are shown. (G) Effect of drug treatment on expression of genes that normally increase or decrease during erythroid differentiation. Error bars represent ± SEM. *P < .05 compared with untreated; #P < .05 compared with tBHQ; $P < .05 compared with statin.