Abstract: Olfactomedin-domain family 4 (OLFM4) is overexpressed in many human tumors, especially in gastrointestinal malignancies. Many recent studies show that OLFM4 expression in gastrointestinal tumors is significantly higher than that of healthy tissues, while its expression is often downregulated in advanced tumors. Maybe OLFM4 can promote tumorigenesis in the early stage of tumors by its anti-apoptotic effects, the expression loss of OLFM4 is also necessary for tumor progression or metastasis, indicating different biological functions in different pathological stages.

Key words: OLFM4, cell apoptosis, digestive system tumors