KLF4

Chr 9

KLF transcription factor 4

Also known as: EZF, GKLF

NCBI Gene: 9314 ENSG00000136826 UniProt: O43474

This gene encodes a protein that belongs to the Kruppel family of transcription factors. The encoded zinc finger protein is required for normal development of the barrier function of skin. The encoded protein is thought to control the G1-to-S transition of the cell cycle following DNA damage by mediating the tumor suppressor gene p53. Mice lacking this gene have a normal appearance but lose weight rapidly, and die shortly after birth due to fluid evaporation resulting from compromised epidermal barrier function. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms. [provided by RefSeq, Sep 2015]

Active trials

Pathogenic / LP

ClinVar variants

Pubs (1 yr)

0.1

Missense Z

0.17

LOEUF· LoF intolerant

Clinical Summary— KLF4

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Population Constraint (gnomAD)

Highly constrained gene — heterozygous loss-of-function variants are very rare in the population (pLI 1.00). One damaged copy is likely sufficient to cause disease.

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Clinical Trials

1 active or recruiting trial — potential therapeutic options may be available

Population Genetics & Constraint

gnomAD v4 — loss-of-function & missense intolerance

gnomAD

LoF intolerant — likely haploinsufficient

LoF Constraint?LOEUF (Loss-of-function Observed/Expected Upper bound Fraction) is the upper bound of the 90% CI for LoF OE — the preferred gnomAD v4 metric. Lower = more intolerant to LoF. LOEUF < 0.35 = highly constrained.

0.17LOEUF

pLI 0.997

Z-score 3.84

OE 0.00 (0.00–0.17)

Highly constrained

Highly LoF-intolerant (top ~10% of genes)

Missense Constraint?Missense Z-score: standard deviations fewer missense variants observed vs. expected. Z > 3.09 (p < 0.001) = gene does not tolerate missense variation. OE missense < 0.6 is also considered constrained.

0.10Z-score

OE missense 0.98 (0.89–1.09)

275 obs / 279.7 exp

Tolerant

Mild missense constraint

Observed / Expected Ratios?Shaded band = 90% confidence interval. Vertical tick = point estimate. Grey threshold line = gnomAD constraint cutoff for that variant class.

LoF OE?Ratio of observed to expected LoF variants. Upper CI bound (LOEUF) ≤ 0.35 = strong LoF constraint signal.0.00 (0.00–0.17)

0≤0.351.4

Missense OE?Ratio of observed to expected missense variants. OE ≤ 0.6 = fewer missense variants than expected by chance.0.98 (0.89–1.09)

0≤0.61.4

Synonymous OE?Control metric — synonymous variants are largely neutral and expected near OE = 1.0. Significant deviation may indicate annotation issues.1.27

0≤1.21.6

LoF obs/exp: 0 / 17.2Missense obs/exp: 275 / 279.7Syn Z: -2.43

0.3793th %ile

GOF

0.3094th %ile

LOF

0.86top 5%

The highest-scoring mechanism for this gene is loss-of-function (haploinsufficiency).

LOFprediction above median · LOEUF 0.17

Predictions from Badonyi M, Marsh JA. PLoS ONE. 2024;19(8):e0307312. Mechanism ranking also informed by gnomAD constraint, ClinVar, and ClinGen data.