When endogenous IGFBP2 was knocked down in the two t(8;21) AML cell lines (Fig. 7A), we observed a substantial repression on cell proliferation (Fig. 7B) and colony-forming capacity (Additional file 1: Fig. S7A) and a promotion on G1 cell cycle arrest (Additional file 1: Fig. S7B), cell apoptosis (Fig. 7C and Additional file 1: Fig. S7C) and cell differentiation (Fig. 7D, E), which was largely similar to the effect of the FTO knockdown. The gene discussed is FTO; the disease is acute myeloid leukemia.