KLF12 Gene

HGNC Family	Zinc fingers
Name	Kruppel-like factor 12
Description	Activator protein-2 alpha (AP-2 alpha) is a developmentally-regulated transcription factor and important regulator of gene expression during vertebrate development and carcinogenesis. The protein encoded by this gene is a member of the Kruppel-like zinc finger protein family and can repress expression of the AP-2 alpha gene by binding to a specific site in the AP-2 alpha gene promoter. Repression by the encoded protein requires binding with a corepressor, CtBP1. Two transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been found for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]
Summary	{"type": "root", "children": [{"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n Recent studies have revealed that the zinc‐finger transcription factor KLF12 plays context‐dependent roles in human disease. In genome‐wide association analyses of rheumatoid arthritis, common variants in the KLF12 gene have been repeatedly associated with disease susceptibility, implicating KLF12 in inflammatory regulation."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "1"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " In cancer, KLF12 dysregulation contributes to tumor progression by modulating cell survival and oncogenic signaling. In ovarian cancer cells, KLF12 is directly targeted by miR-141; reduced KLF12 expression leads to enhanced anoikis resistance through derepression of Sp1-mediated survivin transcription, thereby promoting cell proliferation, anchorage-independent growth, and peritoneal metastasis."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "2"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " In nasopharyngeal carcinoma, upregulation of KLF12 occurs via a long noncoding RNA that functions as a competing endogenous RNA for miR-539-5p; elevated KLF12 expression in turn correlates with increased cell proliferation and poorer patient survival."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "3"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Moreover, in both pancreatic and gastric cancers, miR-137 targets KLF12 to modulate tumor cell stemness, proliferation, and migration—effects that are partly mediated by alterations in Wnt/β-catenin signaling."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "4"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Additional evidence from erythroid gene regulation screens and p53-mediated tumor suppression studies further suggests a role for KLF12 (also known as AP-2rep) in transcriptional control across diverse cellular contexts."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "6"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n "}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n "}, {"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n Collectively, these findings underscore the multifaceted functions of KLF12 as a key modulator of apoptosis, cell cycle progression, and oncogenic signaling pathways. Its dysregulation through genetic variation or posttranscriptional control by microRNAs contributes to inflammatory disorders and cancer progression, making KLF12 a potential biomarker and therapeutic target in several disease settings.\n "}]}, {"type": "rg", "children": [{"type": "r", "ref": 1, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Antonio Julià, Javier Ballina, Juan D Cañete, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Genome-wide association study of rheumatoid arthritis in the Spanish population: KLF12 as a risk locus for rheumatoid arthritis susceptibility."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Arthritis Rheum (2008)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1002/art.23623"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1002/art.23623"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "18668548"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18668548"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 2, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Celia S L Mak, Mingo M H Yung, Lynn M N Hui, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "MicroRNA-141 enhances anoikis resistance in metastatic progression of ovarian cancer through targeting KLF12/Sp1/survivin axis."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Mol Cancer (2017)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1186/s12943-017-0582-2"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1186/s12943-017-0582-2"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "28095864"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28095864"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 3, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Kai-Yu Sun, Tao Peng, Zhe Chen, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Long non-coding RNA LOC100129148 functions as an oncogene in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma by targeting miR-539-5p."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Aging (Albany NY) (2017)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.18632/aging.101205"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.101205"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "28328537"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28328537"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 4, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Zhiwei He, Xingjun Guo, She Tian, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "MicroRNA-137 reduces stemness features of pancreatic cancer cells by targeting KLF12."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "J Exp Clin Cancer Res (2019)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1186/s13046-019-1105-3"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1186/s13046-019-1105-3"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "30866999"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30866999"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 5, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Yantao Du, Yichen Chen, Furong Wang, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "miR-137 plays tumor suppressor roles in gastric cancer cell lines by targeting KLF12 and MYO1C."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Tumour Biol (2016)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1007/s13277-016-5199-3"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-016-5199-3"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "27468717"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27468717"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 6, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Ping Zhang, Priyadarshi Basu, Latasha C Redmond, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "A functional screen for Krüppel-like factors that regulate the human gamma-globin gene through the CACCC promoter element."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Blood Cells Mol Dis (2005)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1016/j.bcmd.2005.04.009"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcmd.2005.04.009"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "16023392"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16023392"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 7, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Sabine Hünten, Markus Kaller, Friedel Drepper, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "p53-Regulated Networks of Protein, mRNA, miRNA, and lncRNA Expression Revealed by Integrated Pulsed Stable Isotope Labeling With Amino Acids in Cell Culture (pSILAC) and Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Analyses."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Mol Cell Proteomics (2015)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1074/mcp.M115.050237"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1074/mcp.M115.050237"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "26183718"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26183718"}]}]}]}
Synonyms	AP2REP, HSPC122, AP-2REP
Proteins	KLF12_HUMAN
NCBI Gene ID	11278
API
Download Associations
Predicted Functions
Co-expressed Genes
Expression in Tissues and Cell Lines

Functional Associations

KLF12 has 6,310 functional associations with biological entities spanning 9 categories (molecular profile, organism, chemical, functional term, phrase or reference, disease, phenotype or trait, structural feature, cell line, cell type or tissue, gene, protein or microRNA, sequence feature) extracted from 113 datasets.

Click the + buttons to view associations for KLF12 from the datasets below.

If available, associations are ranked by standardized value

Harmonizome 3.0

KLF12 Gene

Functional Associations

Please acknowledge the Harmonizome in your publications by citing the following reference(s):

	Dataset	Summary
	Allen Brain Atlas Adult Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of KLF12 gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Adult Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Adult Mouse Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of KLF12 gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Adult Mouse Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Aging Dementia and Traumatic Brain Injury Tissue Sample Gene Expression Profiles	tissue samples with high or low expression of KLF12 gene relative to other tissue samples from the Allen Brain Atlas Aging Dementia and Traumatic Brain Injury Tissue Sample Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by Microarray	tissue samples with high or low expression of KLF12 gene relative to other tissue samples from the Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by Microarray dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by RNA-seq	tissue samples with high or low expression of KLF12 gene relative to other tissue samples from the Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by RNA-seq dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Prenatal Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of KLF12 gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Prenatal Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	BioGPS Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles	cell lines with high or low expression of KLF12 gene relative to other cell lines from the BioGPS Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	BioGPS Human Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	cell types and tissues with high or low expression of KLF12 gene relative to other cell types and tissues from the BioGPS Human Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	BioGPS Mouse Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	cell types and tissues with high or low expression of KLF12 gene relative to other cell types and tissues from the BioGPS Mouse Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles	cell lines with high or low copy number of KLF12 gene relative to other cell lines from the CCLE Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles	cell lines with high or low expression of KLF12 gene relative to other cell lines from the CCLE Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Proteomics	Cell lines associated with KLF12 protein from the CCLE Cell Line Proteomics dataset.
	CellMarker Gene-Cell Type Associations	cell types associated with KLF12 gene from the CellMarker Gene-Cell Type Associations dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles	transcription factor binding site profiles with transcription factor binding evidence at the promoter of KLF12 gene from the CHEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of KLF12 gene in low- or high-throughput transcription factor functional studies from the CHEA Transcription Factor Targets dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Targets 2022	transcription factors binding the promoter of KLF12 gene in low- or high-throughput transcription factor functional studies from the CHEA Transcription Factor Targets 2022 dataset.
	CMAP Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules	small molecule perturbations changing expression of KLF12 gene from the CMAP Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components containing KLF12 protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components containing KLF12 protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components co-occuring with KLF12 protein in abstracts of biomedical publications from the COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components co-occuring with KLF12 protein in abstracts of biomedical publications from the COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles	cell lines with high or low copy number of KLF12 gene relative to other cell lines from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles	cell lines with KLF12 gene mutations from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles dataset.
	CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions	chemicals interacting with KLF12 gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions dataset.
	CTD Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with KLF12 gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	dbGAP Gene-Trait Associations	traits associated with KLF12 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the dbGAP Gene-Trait Associations dataset.
	DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency	cell lines with fitness changed by KLF12 gene knockdown relative to other cell lines from the DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency dataset.
	DISEASES Experimental Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores	diseases associated with KLF12 gene in GWAS datasets from the DISEASES Experimental Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores dataset.
	DISEASES Experimental Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025	diseases associated with KLF12 gene in GWAS datasets from the DISEASES Experimental Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores	diseases co-occuring with KLF12 gene in abstracts of biomedical publications from the DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores dataset.
	DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025	diseases co-occuring with KLF12 gene in abstracts of biomedical publications from the DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with KLF12 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	DisGeNET Gene-Phenotype Associations	phenotypes associated with KLF12 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Phenoptype Associations dataset.
	ENCODE Histone Modification Site Profiles	histone modification site profiles with high histone modification abundance at KLF12 gene from the ENCODE Histone Modification Site Profiles dataset.
	ENCODE Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles	transcription factor binding site profiles with transcription factor binding evidence at the promoter of KLF12 gene from the ENCODE Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ENCODE Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of KLF12 gene in ChIP-seq datasets from the ENCODE Transcription Factor Targets dataset.
	ESCAPE Omics Signatures of Genes and Proteins for Stem Cells	PubMedIDs of publications reporting gene signatures containing KLF12 from the ESCAPE Omics Signatures of Genes and Proteins for Stem Cells dataset.
	GAD Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with KLF12 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the GAD Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	GAD High Level Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with KLF12 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the GAD High Level Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	GDSC Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles	cell lines with high or low expression of KLF12 gene relative to other cell lines from the GDSC Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.