Zinc finger protein 278 (ZNF278) is a novel Krueppel Cys2-His2-type zinc finger protein that is ubiquitously distributed in human tissues. Whether ZNF278 is related to the development of colorectal cancer is still unclear. The transcriptional level of ZNF278 was studied in colorectal cancer by real-time polymerase chain reaction. The results showed that ZNF278 expression was increased in 53% of colorectal cancer tissues compared to corresponding non-cancerous tissues. The transcriptional down-regulation of ZNF278 was detected in only three (6%) human colorectal cancer tissues compared to corresponding non-cancer tissues. No significant difference was detected in 19 (41%) pairs of samples. However, we failed to find a significant association between the up-regulation of ZNF278 transcription and age, sex, the degree of infiltration, or the tumor size of colorectal cancer. To study the function of ZNF278 in colorectal carcinogenesis, the colon cancer cell line SW1116 was stably transfected with a wild-type ZNF278 plasmid to construct an overexpression system, and was transiently transfected with the small interfering RNA of ZNF278 to construct a ZNF278 knockdown system. Cell proliferation was assessed with 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide dye and a cell counter. The results show that ZNF278 promotes cell growth, and its knockdown suppresses cell proliferation. ZNF278 could be a potential proto-oncogene in colorectal cancer.