VEZF1 Gene

HGNC Family	Zinc fingers
Name	vascular endothelial zinc finger 1
Description	Transcriptional regulatory proteins containing tandemly repeated zinc finger domains are thought to be involved in both normal and abnormal cellular proliferation and differentiation. ZNF161 is a C2H2-type zinc finger protein (Koyano-Nakagawa et al., 1994 [PubMed 8035792]). See MIM 603971 for general information on zinc finger proteins.[supplied by OMIM, Sep 2008]
Summary	{"type": "root", "children": [{"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\nVascular endothelial zinc finger 1 (VEZF1) is a multifunctional transcription factor that plays critical roles in embryonic development and cardiovascular regulation. In embryonic stem cells, VEZF1 modulates gene expression by influencing RNA polymerase II elongation and alternative splicing, thereby affecting the expression of key genes involved in DNA methylation and developmental processes. Its essential function is further underscored in the postnatal heart, where VEZF1 supports endothelial lineage determination and proper cardiac development."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "1"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n\n"}, {"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\nVEZF1 also has an important role in angiogenesis and vascular remodeling. It directly binds DNA guanine quadruplex structures to regulate the relative expression of VASH1 mRNA isoforms, thereby modulating tubulin detyrosinase activity and cytoskeletal rearrangement—a key process in the formation of new blood vessels. Moreover, in various cancer contexts, aberrant VEZF1 activity contributes to disease progression. In hepatocellular carcinoma, VEZF1 promotes tumor proliferation and metastasis by transcriptionally activating pro-tumorigenic targets such as PAQR4, with its abundance being finely tuned via ubiquitination by STUB1. In ovarian cancer, VEZF1 is co-opted by TRIM29 to enhance the transcription of SETBP1 and support the maintenance of cancer stem cell–like features. A pathogenic mutation in VEZF1 that compromises its ability to activate cardiac gene promoters (e.g. MYH7 and ET1) has been implicated in dilated cardiomyopathy, further emphasizing its role in cardiac homeostasis. Additionally, in urothelial bladder cancer, VEZF1 enhances SPOP transcription, which in turn modulates STAT3 signaling and the tumor microenvironment."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_fs", "start_ref": "3", "end_ref": "7"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n\n"}, {"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\nCollectively, these findings establish VEZF1 as a pivotal regulatory node that links transcriptional control to diverse biological processes—from early developmental gene regulation and vascular morphogenesis to cardiac function and oncogenic progression. The multifaceted roles of VEZF1 highlight its potential as a therapeutic target in diseases ranging from congenital heart defects and cardiomyopathies to various malignancies where dysregulated angiogenesis and tumor microenvironment remodeling are key pathogenic features."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_fs", "start_ref": "1", "end_ref": "7"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n"}]}, {"type": "rg", "children": [{"type": "r", "ref": 1, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Humaira Gowher, Kevin Brick, R Daniel Camerini-Otero, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Vezf1 protein binding sites genome-wide are associated with pausing of elongating RNA polymerase II."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A (2012)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1073/pnas.1121538109"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1121538109"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "22308494"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22308494"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 2, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Jere Paavola, Tarja Alakoski, Johanna Ulvila, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Vezf1 regulates cardiac structure and contractile function."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "EBioMedicine (2020)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1016/j.ebiom.2019.102608"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2019.102608"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "31911272"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31911272"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 3, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Lin Li, Preston Williams, Zi Gao, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "VEZF1-guanine quadruplex DNA interaction regulates alternative polyadenylation and detyrosinase activity of VASH1."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Nucleic Acids Res (2020)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1093/nar/gkaa1092"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaa1092"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "33231681"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33231681"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 4, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Huai-Yu Qiao, Qi Zhang, Jia-Mei Wang, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "TRIM29 regulates the SETBP1/SET/PP2A axis via transcription factor VEZF1 to promote progression of ovarian cancer."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Cancer Lett (2022)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1016/j.canlet.2021.12.029"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.canlet.2021.12.029"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "34973391"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34973391"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 5, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Xiaobao Shi, Pengfei Zhao, Gang Zhao "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "VEZF1, destabilized by STUB1, affects cellular growth and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma by transcriptionally regulating PAQR4."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Cancer Gene Ther (2023)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1038/s41417-022-00540-8"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41417-022-00540-8"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "36241701"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36241701"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 6, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Hong-Yu Shi, Meng-Shi Xie, Yu-Han Guo, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "VEZF1 loss-of-function mutation underlying familial dilated cardiomyopathy."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Eur J Med Genet (2023)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1016/j.ejmg.2023.104705"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmg.2023.104705"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "36657711"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36657711"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 7, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Meiqian Li, Yangyan Cui, Qi Qi, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "SPOP downregulation promotes bladder cancer progression based on cancer cell-macrophage crosstalk via STAT3/CCL2/IL-6 axis and is regulated by VEZF1."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Theranostics (2024)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.7150/thno.101575"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.7150/thno.101575"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "39479456"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39479456"}]}]}]}
Synonyms	ZNF161, DB1
Proteins	VEZF1_HUMAN
NCBI Gene ID	7716
API
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Predicted Functions
Co-expressed Genes
Expression in Tissues and Cell Lines

Functional Associations

VEZF1 has 6,738 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 116 datasets.

Click the + buttons to view associations for VEZF1 from the datasets below.

If available, associations are ranked by standardized value

Harmonizome 3.0

VEZF1 Gene

Functional Associations

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

	Dataset	Summary
	Achilles Cell Line Gene Essentiality Profiles	cell lines with fitness changed by VEZF1 gene knockdown relative to other cell lines from the Achilles Cell Line Gene Essentiality Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Adult Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of VEZF1 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 VEZF1 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 VEZF1 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 VEZF1 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 VEZF1 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 VEZF1 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 VEZF1 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 VEZF1 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 VEZF1 gene relative to other cell types and tissues from the BioGPS Mouse Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Carcinogenome Chemical Perturbation Carcinogenicity Signatures	small molecule perturbations changing expression of VEZF1 gene from the Carcinogenome Chemical Perturbation Carcinogenicity Signatures dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles	cell lines with high or low copy number of VEZF1 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 VEZF1 gene relative to other cell lines from the CCLE Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Proteomics	Cell lines associated with VEZF1 protein from the CCLE Cell Line Proteomics dataset.
	CellMarker Gene-Cell Type Associations	cell types associated with VEZF1 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 VEZF1 gene from the CHEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of VEZF1 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 VEZF1 gene in low- or high-throughput transcription factor functional studies from the CHEA Transcription Factor Targets 2022 dataset.
	CM4AI KOLF21J CRISPRi Gene Perturbation Atlas	gene perturbations changing expression of VEZF1 gene from the CM4AI KOLF21J CRISPRi Gene Perturbation Atlas dataset.
	CMAP Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules	small molecule perturbations changing expression of VEZF1 gene from the CMAP Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components containing VEZF1 protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Experimental Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components containing VEZF1 protein in low- or high-throughput protein localization assays from the COMPARTMENTS Experimental Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components co-occuring with VEZF1 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 VEZF1 protein in abstracts of biomedical publications from the COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	CORUM Protein Complexes	protein complexs containing VEZF1 protein from the CORUM Protein Complexes dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles	cell lines with high or low copy number of VEZF1 gene relative to other cell lines from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles	cell lines with VEZF1 gene mutations from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles dataset.
	CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions	chemicals interacting with VEZF1 gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions dataset.
	CTD Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with VEZF1 gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	DeepCoverMOA Drug Mechanisms of Action	small molecule perturbations with high or low expression of VEZF1 protein relative to other small molecule perturbations from the DeepCoverMOA Drug Mechanisms of Action dataset.
	DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency	cell lines with fitness changed by VEZF1 gene knockdown relative to other cell lines from the DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency dataset.
	DISEASES Curated Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025	diseases involving VEZF1 gene from the DISEASES Curated Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores	diseases co-occuring with VEZF1 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 VEZF1 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 VEZF1 gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	ENCODE Histone Modification Site Profiles	histone modification site profiles with high histone modification abundance at VEZF1 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 VEZF1 gene from the ENCODE Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ENCODE Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of VEZF1 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 VEZF1 from the ESCAPE Omics Signatures of Genes and Proteins for Stem Cells dataset.
	GDSC Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles	cell lines with high or low expression of VEZF1 gene relative to other cell lines from the GDSC Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.