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Updated: May 11, 2026

MISSION LentiPlex Pooled shRNA Library Screening in Mammalian Cells
Published on: December 21, 2011
RNAi screening identifies KAT8 as a key molecule important for cancer cell survival
Shuang Zhang1, Xianhong Liu, Yong Zhang
1Department of Pathophysiology, Norman Bathune College of Medical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, China.
Abstract:
Histone acetyltransferases (HATs) regulate many critical cancer events, including transcriptional regulation of oncogene and tumor suppressors, chromatin structure and DNA damage response. Abnormal expression of HATs has been reported in a number of cancers. However, cellular functions of HATs in cancer and molecular mechanisms remain largely unclear. Here, we performed a lentiviral vector-mediated RNAi screen to systematically address the function of HATs in lung cancer cell growth and viability. We identified 8 HATs genes involved in A549 cell viability. Further experiments showed that KAT8 regulates G2/M cell cycle arrest through AKT/ERK-cyclin D1 signaling. Moreover, KAT8 inhibition led to p53 induction and subsequently reduced bcl-2 expression. Our results demonstrate an important role of KAT8 in cancer and suggest that KAT8 could be a novel cancer therapeutic target.
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