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Review
. 2025 Mar;8(3):e70123.
doi: 10.1002/cnr2.70123.

Research Progress on the Role of Zinc Finger Protein in Colorectal Cancer

Tang Yu  1   2 , Jiumei Zhao  2 , Ziwei Li  3 , Chenglong Pan  1 , Jialing Liu  1 , Kepu Zheng  1 , Xiaohao Wang  4 , Yan Zhang  4
Affiliations
Review

Research Progress on the Role of Zinc Finger Protein in Colorectal Cancer

Tang Yu et al. Cancer Rep (Hoboken). 2025 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Colorectal cancer is one of the most prevalent malignancies worldwide, with a tendency of increasing incidence in developed countries, which poses a significant threat to the patients' physical and mental health.

Recent findings: The process of gene transcription affects the important physiological functions of cells, so the normal expression of transcription factors is an important prerequisite for maintaining cellular homeostasis. Changes in the level of zinc finger proteins, the most prevalent transcription factor, may play an important trigger for the development of colorectal cancer. Different zinc finger proteins play different roles in terms of promoting or inhibiting cancer development.

Conclusion: This paper briefly reviews the classification, functional characteristics, and expression changes of zinc finger proteins in colorectal cancer, it focuses on how they regulate gene transcription, influence on common signaling pathways, and their potential for translational studies and clinical applications. The objective is to stimulate new ideas for their study of colorectal cancer while also providing foundational information to guide drug development and treatment strategies for colorectal cancer patients in clinical settings.

Keywords: colorectal cancer; mechanism of action; signaling pathway; treatment; zinc finger protein.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Schematic representation of the major structures of zinc finger proteins [4]. There is a pair of cysteine residues at the N‐terminus of the zinc finger and a pair of histidine residues at the C‐terminus. These four residues form a cavity in space that accommodates exactly one Zn ion. Because Zn ions can stabilize the α‐helix structure in the model, the α‐helix can be embedded in the major groove of DNA. Therefore, all proteins containing zinc fingers can bind to DNA or RNA. His: Histidine residues, Cys: Cysteine residues, Zn2+: Zn ion.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Zinc finger protein has major influence on biological functions in the cell [10]. Zinc finger proteins are involved in a variety of important cellular physiological activities, including cell stemness, divergence, apoptosis, autophagy, and metabolism.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Zinc finger protein binding substrate [11]. Zinc finger proteins contain many domains that can bind to their substrate, including certain proteins or nucleic acids. Such as SUMO, lipid, ubiquitin, RNA, methylated DNA, DNA, modified histone, poly(ADP‐ribose), and protein.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Effect of ZNFs on CRC metastasis‐related pathways [46, 47, 51, 52, 55]. Zinc finger protein plays an important role in the occurrence and development of CRC, and promotes the metastasis and invasion of CRC by activating some tumor‐related signaling pathways. For example, increased expression of ZFP57 activates tumor stemness signaling; ZNF281, ZNF276, and ZNF334 could activate WNT/ β‐catenin signaling pathway, ZNF460 could activate jak‐stat signaling pathway, ZNF384 could activate MMPs signaling pathway, ZNF326 could activate EMT signaling pathway. The activation of these pathways has an important link with the metastasis and invasion of CRC.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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