{"doi":"10.1242/bio.062336","title":"ZNF16 is a nucleolar-associated protein that regulates expression of rDNA and cancer-associated genes","abstract":"ZNF16 (also known as HZF1 and KOX9) is a multi-C2H2 zinc finger protein first identified via its expression in human T-cells and shown to have a role in blood cell differentiation. ZNF16 was later shown to be ubiquitously expressed in a variety of fetal and adult tissues, suggesting a broader function. In this study, we confirm the ubiquitous expression of ZNF16 in a variety of cancer and non-cancer cell lines and show that ZNF16 depletion reduces cell viability in all cell lines tested. Furthermore, we show that ZNF16 localizes to the nucleolus in a transcription-dependent manner, interacts with the intergenic spacer region of the rDNA and promotes rDNA transcription. Additionally, RNA-sequencing experiments after ZNF16 depletion revealed that ZNF16 also has roles in a variety of pathways including extracellular matrix-receptor interaction, focal adhesions, cytokine-cytokine receptor interactions, human papillomavirus infection and cancer pathways. These findings are consistent with broader roles for ZNF16, including the regulation of nucleolar function, a process that is essential for all cells, and provide evidence at the cellular/molecular level of its role in the regulation of cancer-associated genes (e.g. NRAS, BIRC3, EGFR).","journal":"Biology Open","year":2025,"id":587396,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9574,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1487952,"name":"Laura Quevedo","orcid":"0000-0001-8902-5818","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1488319,"name":"Jason Paratore","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1488320,"name":"Matthew J. Alcaraz","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1488321,"name":"Arlene Levario","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":511516,"name":"Yasir Rahmatallah","orcid":"0000-0002-8176-6328","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":511515,"name":"Galina Glazko","orcid":"0000-0002-0570-5304","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":307761,"name":"Nathan S. Reyna","orcid":"0000-0003-3430-0282","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1503170,"name":"Laura Diaz-Martinez","orcid":null,"position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1488318,"name":"Chelsea L. George","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":44,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:59:36.020030Z","pmid":"41467516","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}