Figure 4.

KLF8 promotes glycolysis by targeting glucose transporter GLUT4. (A) Silencing KLF8 up‐regulated or down‐regulated several rate‐limiting genes in glycolysis process, and the most significantly decreased was GLUT4 in AGS cells. sh = shKLF8, c: control. 1, 2, 3 means repeated three times. (B) RT‐PCR and (C) Western blot analysis confirmed that knockdown of KLF8 expression decreased GLUT4 expression in both transcriptional and protein levels in AGS and MGC803 cells. (D) Silencing KLF8 expression decreased GLUT4 expression on cell membranes. (E) KLF8 and GLUT4 show consistent expression patterns in gastric cancer tissues. High KLF8 expression is often accompanied by high GLUT4 expression, and GLUT4 is always expressed at low levels when KLF8 is expressed at low levels. (F) KLF8 was positively correlated with GLUT4 expression in the TCGA database (P < 0.001). (G) Dual luciferase assay indicated that KLF8 activated the GLUT4 promoter activity in a dose‐dependent manner. *P < 0.05