{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,20]],"date-time":"2026-02-20T02:29:22Z","timestamp":1771554562929,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"16","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,15]],"date-time":"2025-08-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1755216000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004773","name":"Henan University","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["S23009Y"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["S23009Y"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004773","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Cells"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a prevalent malignancy, ranking eleventh in incidence and seventh in mortality globally. Remodeling and Spacing factor 1 (RSF1), a chromatin remodeling factor, is frequently overexpressed in various tumors and correlates with poor prognosis. This study, combining public database analysis and clinical sample validation, reveals significantly elevated RSF1 expression in ESCC tumor tissues, confirmed further in an ESCC orthotopic model. Functional assays show that RSF1 knockout (KO) significantly inhibits ESCC cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and in vivo tumor growth, while reintroducing RSF1 restores its oncogenic effects. Proteomic analysis highlights that RSF1 KO disrupts pathways associated with cell cycle control, apoptosis, and focal adhesion. Experimentally, RSF1 KO induces apoptosis and G2\/M arrest, establishing its essential role in ESCC progression. Collectively, these findings establish RSF1 as an oncogenic driver and a promising therapeutic target in ESCC.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/cells14161262","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,15]],"date-time":"2025-08-15T10:33:42Z","timestamp":1755254022000},"page":"1262","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Chromatin Remodeler RSF1 as an Oncogenic Driver and Therapeutic Target in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Zhenhua","family":"Du","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zhili","family":"Jia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yao","family":"Lin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0009-0888-879X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xudong","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, China"},{"name":"Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University ofHong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Gengsheng","family":"Cao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Life Sciences, Henan University, Kaifeng 475004, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2414-0609","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hengbin","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology, Oncology and Palliative Care, Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23298, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"229","DOI":"10.3322\/caac.21834","article-title":"Global cancer statistics 2022: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries","volume":"74","author":"Bray","year":"2024","journal-title":"Cancer J. 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