KLF4

By Jamshed Arslan, Pharm D, PhD

By Jennifer Sokolowski, MD, PhD.

Discovery of the Key to Pluripotency

Krüppel-like factors (KLFs) are evolutionarily conserved zinc finger transcription factors that play a role in cell differentiation, proliferation, and pluripotency.

KLF4 (Kruppel-like factor 4, Epithelial zinc finger protein EZF) is a zinc finger transcription factor thought to be involved in developmental differentiation and proliferation. It is considered a pluripotency reprogramming factor (PRF) due to its ability to change cell fate via gene expression conversion. Other PRFs including Sox2, Oct4 and KLF4, as well as a discussion about their capabilities, are reviewed by Jauch et al in hopes of enabling the engineering and optimization of PRFs¹.