Moreover, bioinformatics and luciferase reporter gene assays confirmed that miR-4262 targeted the mRNA 3'-UTR region of KLF6 and KLF15, two characterized tumor suppressor genes. miR-4262 suppressed protein levels of KLF6 and KLF15 in MDA-MB-231 cells, and the suppression could be rescued by the transfection of pcDNA-KLF6 and -KLF15.
Expression of KLF15 was found to be abnormally high in LADC tissues and cells compared with adjacent non-tumorous tissues, and was correlated with tumor TNM stage and tumor differentiation (<i>P</i> = 0.003, <i>P</i> = 0.001, respectively).
The characterization of novel EWSR1-KLF15 fusion transcripts carries important diagnostic implications, as well as clues to understand the pathogenesis of these neoplasms.