Zinc finger and BTB domain-containing protein 7A (LRF, Pokemon, FBI1) is a transcriptional repressor encoded by the ZBTB7A gene that belongs to the POK (POZ and Kruppel)/ZBTB (zinc finger and BTB) family. LRF is broadly expressed with elevated expression in a variety of cancers relative to normal tissues, including non-small cell lung cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Research studies suggest that LRF acts as an oncogene through various mechanisms including repression of the tumor suppressors ARF and Rb, and repression of the cell cycle arrest factor p21Cip1. The LRF transcription factor plays key roles during several stages of hematopoiesis including promoting lymphoid progenitor cells to commit to B cell differentiation by repressing T cell-promoting Notch signals, and promoting cell survival during terminal erythroid differentiation through suppression of the proapoptotic factor Bim.
