Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42463735›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2026

Interplay of ELF5, GATA-3 and FLI-1 regulate malignant transformation of keratinocytes.

Hetal J Patel, Maximilian E Pickup, Maryam A Lawal, Chandrakala Khadka, Mohammed I Ahmed

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Hetal J PatelSchool of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, NG11 8NS, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-8461-9980
Maximilian E PickupSchool of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, NG11 8NS, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-6006-2540
Maryam A LawalSchool of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, NG11 8NS, UK.ORCID 0009-0003-8109-5960
Chandrakala KhadkaSchool of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, NG11 8NS, UK.ORCID 0009-0006-8622-521X
Mohammed I AhmedSchool of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, NG11 8NS, UK. mohammed.ahmed@ntu.ac.uk.ORCID 0000-0002-9051-7681

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) arises from epidermal keratinocytes and is the second most common epithelial malignancy. E74-like factor 5 (ELF5) is a member of the epithelium specific ETS subfamily of transcription factors and is essential for epithelial development, homeostasis and prevention of epithelial tumourigenesis. Transformation of keratinocytes involves the disruption of the progenitor differentiation program causing keratinocytes to fail to complete the process. This can lead to dysplastic epithelium and precancerous cells in skin. However, the precise mechanisms that causes the failure of keratinocytes to differentiate completely is not well understood. In our study, we discovered that ELF5 is abundantly expressed in healthy human skin (both basal and suprabasal layers), while its expression is lost in cSCC tissue biopsies. Using CRISPR-Cas9 knockout technology, functional studies along with transcript and protein analysis, loss of ELF5 in immortalised healthy keratinocytes leads to decreased ability of cells to differentiation and increased migration and tumourigenicity, in vitro. Overexpression of ELF5 leads to inhibition of cell migration and proliferation in keratinocytes and in cancer cell lines (A431 and SCC-9), in vitro. Further analysis using RNA transcriptomics has uncovered that GATA-3 and FLI-1 are potentially key molecular targets of ELF5 in keratinocytes. ELF5 regulation of both GATA-3 and FLI-1 is required to maintain the balance between healthy keratinocytes (proliferation/differentiation) and to inhibit precancerous cell formation (tumourigenicity). Our data indicates that ELF5 plays an important role in potentially preventing transformation of keratinocytes and could suppresses skin tumourigenesis. However, additional studies are required to determine this, which could lead the targeting of ELF5 for future drug treatments in cSCC. Better understanding of the underlying mechanisms by which ELF5 regulates gene expression and consequently cell activity will provide new knowledge that can be translated into long-term benefits for patients with precancerous lesions to cSCC.

Indexed as

Cell Transformation, NeoplasticDNA-Binding ProteinsGATA3 Transcription FactorKeratinocytesProto-Oncogene Protein c-fli-1Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-etsSkin NeoplasmsTranscription FactorsCell DifferentiationCell Line, TumorCell MovementCell ProliferationCutaneous Squamous Cell CarcinomaGene Expression Regulation, NeoplasticHumansMicrofilament ProteinsDNA-Binding ProteinsELF5 protein, humanFLII protein, humanGATA3 Transcription FactorMicrofilament ProteinsProto-Oncogene Protein c-fli-1Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-etsTrans-ActivatorsTranscription FactorscSCCDifferentiationELF5KeratinocytesProliferation

Identifiers

PMID42463735
PMCPMC13486807

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.