KCNQ1 and cancer: KCNQ1OT1 is transcribed by RNA polymerase II in an antisense direction from a highly conserved and differentially methylated region (KCNQ1ICR, KvDMR, or IC2) in intron 10 of the KCNQ1 gene, and KCNQ1OT1 interacts with chromatin to regulate the transcription of several genes in an epigenetic manner, playing important roles in the tumorigenesis and development of various cancers (25,26).