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Updated: Apr 18, 2026

Investigation of the Transcriptional Role of a RUNX1 Intronic Silencer by CRISPR/Cas9 Ribonucleoprotein in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cells
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Investigation of the Transcriptional Role of a RUNX1 Intronic Silencer by CRISPR/Cas9 Ribonucleoprotein in Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cells

Published on: September 1, 2019

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Runx3 at the interface of immunity, inflammation and cancer

Joseph Lotem1, Ditsa Levanon1, Varda Negreanu1

  • 1Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.

Biochimica Et Biophysica Acta
|February 3, 2015
PubMed

Insights

RUNX3 is not a tumor suppressor gene (TSG) in epithelial cells, contrary to previous claims. New evidence shows RUNX3 influences immunity and inflammation, indirectly affecting cancer development.

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) inactivation confers a growth advantage, promoting cancer.
  • RUNX3 was previously hypothesized to be a major TSG inactivated in gastric and other cancers.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To critically re-appraise the paradigm of RUNX3 as a cell-autonomous TSG.
  • To evaluate the role of RUNX3 in cancer development based on recent high-throughput studies and mouse models.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of high-throughput, quantitative genome-wide studies on thousands of human tumor samples.
  • Investigation of the role of Runx3 in mouse cancer models.

Main Results:

  • RUNX3 is not expressed in normal gastric and other epithelia, challenging its TSG status.
  • RUNX3 is not a bona fide cell-autonomous TSG and is absent from major cancer gene repositories.
  • RUNX3 plays significant roles in immunity and inflammation, potentially influencing epithelial tumor development indirectly.

Conclusions:

  • The hypothesis of RUNX3 as a direct tumor suppressor gene is refuted by current evidence.
  • RUNX3's functions in immunity and inflammation may indirectly impact epithelial tumorigenesis.
Keywords:
CancerDNA methylationImmunityInflammationRUNX3Tumor suppressor gene

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