ZBTB38 gene knockdown Human neuroblastoma cells Raw sequence reads

Transcription factor ZBTB38 belongs to the zinc finger protein family and contains the typical BTB domains. Only several predicted BTB domain-containing proteins encoded in the human genome have been functionally characterized. No relevant studies have been reported concerning the effect of down-regulated ZBTB38 gene expression on tumor cells through transcriptome analysis. In the present study, 2,438 differentially expressed genes in ZBTB38-/- SH-SY5Y cells were obtained via high-throughput transcriptome sequencing analysis, 83.5% of which was down-regulated. Furthermore, GO functional clustering and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis of these differentially expressed genes (DEGs) revealed that the knocked-down transcription factor ZBTB38 interacted with p53 and arrested cell cycles to inhibit the proliferation of the tumor cells. Besides, it also significantly down-regulated the expressions of PTEN, a "molecular switch" of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, and RB1CC1, the key gene for autophagy initiation, and blocked autophagy to accelerate the apoptosis of tumor cells. ZBTB38-/- SH-SY5Y cells were investigated at the whole transcriptome level and key DEGs were screened in the present study, providing a theoretical foundation for exploring the molecular mechanism of inhibition of tumor cell proliferation and targeted anti-tumor therapies.