Zinc finger protein 728 (ZNF728)

Zinc finger protein 728 (ZNF728) is a member of the KRAB zinc finger protein family and is encoded by the ZNF728 gene on chromosome 19. ZNF728 is a predicted transcription factor that binds DNA in a sequence-specific manner and primarily functions in the regulation of gene expression by RNA polymerase II, acting as a repressor of certain endogenous retroviral sequences, specifically ERV9 integrants[2][5]. As a KRAB zinc finger protein, it interacts with the co-repressor KAP1 to mediate gene silencing at target loci. ZNF728, together with its close paralog ZNF676, is restricted to hominoid primates and has evolved relatively recently in genome evolution, likely to participate in epigenetic regulation of retroelements. Its role as a direct therapeutic target is not established, but it can serve as a potential biomarker, such as in colorectal cancer molecular subtype classification[4]. No drugs are currently known to specifically target ZNF728.

Other names

ZNF728