Genomic Variants in Members of the Krüppel-Like Factor Gene Family are Associated with Disease Severity and Hydroxyurea Treatment Efficacy in β-Hemoglobinopathies Patients

Abstract

Aim: β-Type hemoglobinopathies are characterized by vast phenotypic diversity as far as disease severity is concerned, while differences have also been observed in hydroxyurea (HU) treatment efficacy. These differences are partly attributed to the residual expression of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) in adulthood. The Krüppel-like family of transcription factors (KLFs) are a set of zinc finger DNA-binding proteins which play a major role in HbF regulation. Here, we explored the possible association of variants in KLF gene family members with response to HU treatment efficacy and disease severity in β-hemoglobinopathies patients. Materials & methods: Six tag single nucleotide polymorphisms, located in four KLF genes, namely KLF3, KLF4, KLF9 and KLF10, were analyzed in 110 β-thalassemia major patients (TDT), 18 nontransfusion dependent β-thalassemia patients (NTDT), 82 sickle cell disease/β-thalassemia compound heterozygous patients and 85 healthy individuals as controls. Results: Our findings show that a KLF4 genomic variant (rs2236599) is associated with HU treatment efficacy in sickle cell disease/β-thalassemia compound heterozygous patients and two KLF10 genomic variants (rs980112, rs3191333) are associated with persistent HbF levels in NTDT patients. Conclusion: Our findings provide evidence that genomic variants located in KLF10 gene may be considered as potential prognostic biomarkers of β-thalassemia clinical severity and an additional variant in KLF4 gene as a pharmacogenomic biomarker, predicting response to HU treatment.

MicroRNA-26b-5p alleviates cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats via inhibiting the N-myc/PTEN axis by downregulating KLF10 expression

“…Kru ¨ppel-like family is a group of zincfinger transcription factors which play key regulatory roles in cellular growth, development, differentiation and vascularization. [28][29][30] A study of transcriptome changes after oxygen-glucose deprivation showed that KLF10 was upregulated in rat aortic smooth muscle cells cultured under ischemic conditions, and transfection of hypoxia-inducible factor-1a siRNA reduced the hypoxia-induced increase in KLF10 mRNA. 31 Although there is not much research on the regulation mechanism of KLF10 in ischemia reperfusion, there are many evidences that Kru ¨ppel-like family members play an important biological role in the process of ischemia-reperfusion.…”