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Interleukin-1 ra is a member of the interleukin 1 cytokine family. This protein inhibits the activities of interleukin 1, alpha (IL1A) and interleukin 1, beta (IL1B), and modulates a variety of interleukin 1 related immune and inflammatory responses. This gene and five other closely related cytokine genes form a gene cluster spanning approximately 400 kb on chromosome 2. A polymorphism of this gene is reported to be associated with increased risk of osteoporotic fractures and gastric cancer. Four alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms have been reported.

RHOG belongs to the Rac subfamily of the Rho family of small G proteins. RHOG is a small monomeric GTP-binding protein (G protein), and is a key element of several intracellular signalling pathways. RHOG is needed for the formation of membrane ruffles during macropinocytosis. RHOG takes part in cell migration and is essential for the formation of cup-like structures during trans-endothelial migration of leukocytes. Similar to various small G proteins RHOG has a role in several cellular signalling mechanisms such as cell motility, gene transcription, endocytosis, neurite outgrowth, protection from anoikis and regulation of the neutrophil NADPH oxidase.

BLOC1S2 is a member of the BLOC1S2 family. Biogenesis of lysosome-related organelles complex 1 or BLOC-1 is a universally expressed multisubunit protein complex which is essential for regular biogenesis of specialized organelles of the endosomal-lysosomal system, like melanosomes and platelet dense granules. BLOC1S2 takes part in cell proliferation.

Platelet factor-4 is a 70-amino acid protein that is released from the alpha-granules of activated platelets. Its major physiologic role appears to be neutralization of molecules on the endothelial surface of blood vessels, thereby inhibiting local antithrombin III activity and promoting coagulation. As a strong chemoattractant for neutrophils and fibroblasts, PF4 probably has a role in inflammation and wound repair. Oncostatin-A is a member of the CXC chemokine family. Furthermore it is used as an inhibitor in the angiogenesis during tumor therapy.

The bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) receptors are a family of transmembrane serine/threonine kinases that include the type I receptors BMPR1A and BMPR1B and the type II receptor BMPR2. These receptors are also closely related to the receptors, ACVR1 and ACVR2. The ligands of these receptors are members of the TGF-beta superfamily. TGF-betas transduce their signals through the formation of heteromeric complexes with 2 different types of serine (threonine) kinase receptors: type I receptors of about 50-55 kD and type II receptors of about 70-80 kD. Type II receptors bind ligands in the absence of type I receptors, but they require their respective type I receptors for signaling, whereas type I receptors require their respective type II receptors for ligand binding.

DNAJC15 which is expressed ubiquitously and located on the membrane contains 1 J domain. In many advanced cases of ovarian adenocarcinoma DNAJC15 is absent or down-regulated, due to hypermethylation and allelic loss. Loss of expression correlates with increased resistance to antineoplastic drugs, such as cisplatin. DNAJC15is a crucial component of the TIM23 translocase complex and stimulates the ATPase activity of HSPA9.

GINS4, a member of the GINS4/SLD5 family, has a key part in the initiation of DNA replication, and progression of DNA replication forks. GINS4 is significant for GINS complex assembly. GINS complex connects favorably to singlestranded DNA. Recombinant human GINS4 protein, fused to His-tag at N-terminus was purified by using conventional chromatography techniques.

The P34 protein is the main allergen for soybean sensitive humans. Soybean protein P34, a thiol protease belonging to the papain family, is a monomeric allergen having an N-terminal amino acid sequence and amino acid composition identical to that of the seed 34kDa protein. It is an insoluble glycoprotein having a pI of 4.5 and a calculated mass of 28.643 Dalton, representing 2–3% of total soybean protein. Upon glycosylation, the mass will be somewhat larger, resulting in a ~32kDa band in non-reduced SDS PAGE gels. It exhibits no enzymatic function due to an absence of the catalytic cysteine. P34 is stored in storage vacuoles of soybean cotyledons.

Thrombopoietin is a glycoprotein hormone produced mainly by the liver and the kidneyt hat regulates the production of platelets by the bone marrow. It stimulates the production and differentiation of megakaryocytes, the bone marrow cells that fragment into large numbers of platelets.

The IL-6 receptor complex is composed of two membrane glycoproteins: the low affinity receptor and the signaltransducing component. The soluble form of IL6R is found in the urine of healthy adult humans and the serum of HIV positive individuals, as well as in the cell culture supernatants of stimulated PBMC’s. This soluble form of IL6R results from either proteolytic cleavage from the membrane, or an isoform derived splice variant.

TRAF Family Member-Associated NFKB Activator (TANK) is located in the cytoplasm and binds Either TRAF1, TRAF2 or TRAF3. TANK is an inhibitor of TRAF function which regulates TRAF protein activity via sequestering TRAFs in a dormant position in the cytoplasm. Overexpression of TANK, inhibits TRAF2-mediated NF-Kappa-B activation signaled by CD40 and both TNF receptors and also inhibits LMP1-mediated NFkappa-B activation by blocking the connection of TRAF2 with LMP1.

Recombinant Human Sonic Hedgehog is part of a small group of secreted proteins that are vital for development in both vertebrates and invertebrates. 3 mammalian hedgehog genes (sonic, desert, Indian) share about 60% homology. The Human Sonic Hedgehog is 99% homologous to the mouse gene. Sonic HedgeHog helps in guiding the early embryo. It has been associated as the major inductive signal in patterning of the ventral neural tube, the anterior-posterior limb axis, and the ventral somites. Sonic HedgeHog binds to the patched receptor, which association with smoothened, to activate the transcription of target genes. In the absence of sonic HedgeHog, patched receptor represses the constitutive signaling activity of smoothened. Sonic HedgeHog also regulates another factor, the gli oncogene. Sonic HedgeHog intercellular signal is necessary for a various patterning events during development: signal produced by the notochord that induces ventral cell fate in the neural tube and somites, and the polarizing signal for patterning of the anterior-posterior axis of the developing limb bud. Sonic HedgeHog exhibits both floor plate- and motor neuron-inducing activity. Mutations in a long-range Sonic HedgeHog enhancer located in an intron of the limb region 1 gene result in preaxial polydactyly.

Migration And Invasion Enhancer 1 (MIEN1) is a member of the SelWTH family. MIEN1 enhances cell migration by stimulating filopodia formation at the leading edge of migrating cells and takes parts in regulation of apoptosis, probably via control of CASP3. MIEN1 participates in a redox-related process as well.

A natural cytotoxicity receptor (NCR) NKp46 has been shown to represent a novel NK cell-specific molecule involved in human NK cell activation. The natural cytotoxicity receptors (NCRs) are a recently characterized family of Ig-like activation receptors that appear to be major triggering receptors in tumor cell recognition. The three known NCRs include NKp46 and NKp30, which are expressed on circulating NKcells, and NKp44, which is expressed only on activating NK cells. NKp46 has been implicated in NK cell-mediated lysis of several autologous tumor cells, pathogen-infected cell lines and mononuclear phagocytes infected with an intracellular bacterium. The Lysis of tumor cells by NK-cells involves recognition by NKp46 of heparan sulfate moieties of membrane heparan sulfate proteoglycans. Furthermore, NKp46 is a surface receptor involved in NK-cell cell death by apoptosis. NKp46 has two extracellular Ig-like domains followed by a ~40 residue stalk region, a type I transmembrane domain, and a short cytoplasmic tail. The extracellular Ig-like domain of NKp46 (22-255aa) is purified by FPLC gel-filtration chromatography, after refolding of the isolated inclusion bodies in a redox buffer. In addition, engagement of the antigen with the monoclonal antibody stimulates intracellular calcium levels and the synthesis of cytokines. CD59 is an NKp46 coreceptor (by physical association) together they activate cytotoxicity of human NK-cells, their engagement results in tyrosine phosphorylation of CD3-zeta chains associated with NKp46. Reduced cell surface expression of NKp46 and other NK-cell receptors is linked to the impaired NK-cell cytolytic function in viremic HIV-1 infection.

Processing of Precursor 4 (POP4) is a member of the eukaryotic/archaeal RNase P protein component 1 family. POP4 is one of the protein subunits of the small nucleolar ribonucleoprotein complexes: the endoribonuclease for mitochondrial RNA processing complex and the ribonuclease P complex. POP4 is confined to the nucleus and associates promptly with the RNA component of this complexes.POP4 is participating in processing of precursor RNAs.

Gankyrin (proteasome 26S subunit) is a multicatalytic proteinase oncoprotein commonly overexpressed in most hepatocellular carcinomas. Proteasomes are found throughout eukaryotic cells at a high concentrations and cleave peptides in an ATP/ubiquitin-dependent process in a non-lysosomal pathway. Gankyrin interacts with S6 ATPase of the 19S regulatory particle of the 26S proteasome. Gankyrin is involved in theregulation of the phosphorylation of the retinoblastoma protein by CDK4, and to enhance the ubiquitinylation of p53 by MDM2. Gankyrin consists of 7 ankyrin repeats and is structurally similar to I kappa Bs. Gankyrin acts as a regulatory subunit of the 26s proteasome which is involved in the atp-dependent degradation of ubiquitinated proteins. Gankyrin is involved in progression of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. gankyrin plays an oncogenic role especially in early stages of human epatocarcinogenesis. Gankyrin binds to NF-kappaB and suppresses its activity at the transcription level by modulating acetylation through SIRT1. Structural comparison between Gankyrin & p16(INK4A) identified numerous residues of gankyrin that are potentially important for CDK4 binding.

Human HSP40 (heat shock protein with molecular size of 40kDa) is one of the mammalian homologues of bacterial DnaJ heat shock protein and regulates cellular processes by aiding in the folding, transport and assembly. HSP40 protein contains the J-domain which controls interaction with the ATPase domain of DnaK.

Oncostatin M is a member of a cytokine family that includes leukemia-inhibitory factor, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, and interleukin 6. This gene encodes a growth regulator which inhibits the proliferation of a number of tumor cell lines. It regulates cytokine production, including IL-6, G-CSF and GM-CSF from endothelial cells.

Mycobacterium antigen ESAT-6 has been isolated from low molecular weight fractions of the shot-term-culture filtrate (ST-CF) and it can easily be detected in tuberculosis patients.
The export of ESAT-6 which is a potent T-cell antigen, and related proteins requires a dedicated secretory apparatus that is encoded by a group of genes, several of which also code for proteins that are recognized strongly by T cells. The ESAT-6 systems can consequently be considered as immunogenicity islands and there is mounting evidence that the equivalent genes are subject to selective pressure imposed by the immune system of the host.
This antigen includes many epitopes detectable in the serum of most patients with tuberculosis (more than 90%). By the attempts to obtain the vaccine on the basis of ESAT-6 it was demonstrated that the optimization of adjuvant is very important when using the combination of dioctadecylammonium bromide and monophosphoryllipide.
Recently it was shown that ESAT-6 is very potential as diagnostic for differentiation between the mycobacterial infection and BCG vaccination. The main topic in ESAT-6 using is in antibody production and in test-systems for tuberculosis elaboration.

CARD18 belongs to the death-domain-fold superfamily which is induced by proinflammatory stimuli. CARD18 contains basically only a Caspase recruitment domain, inhibits generation of IL-1b by cooperating with caspase-1 and inhibiting connotation with RIP 2. The connotation of CARD18 to caspase-1 is enabled by the charge-charge interactions between the prodomain of caspase-1 and the surface charge of CARD18.

Inhibitor of Growth Family Member 1, also known as ING1 is a tumor suppressor protein which is able to induce cell growth arrest and apoptosis. ING1 is a nuclear protein which physically act together with the tumor suppressor protein TP53 and is a component of the p53 signaling pathway. In addition, Reduced expression and rearrangement of ING1 have been identified in various cancers. Multiple alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms have been described for ING1.

FtsJ RNA Methyltransferase Homolog 2 (FTSJ2) belongs to the S-adenosylmethionine-binding protein family. FTSJ2 is a nucleolar protein and which is involved in cell cycle control and DNA repair and the processing and modification of rRNA. FTSJ2 is extensively expressed, with the highest expression in the muscle, placenta, and heart.

The peroxisome proliferator activated receptors (PPARs) are ligandactivated transcription factors within the nuclear receptor superfamily, which play important roles in adipogenesis, glucose homeostasis andinflammation. Three different isotypes can be distinguished; alpha, beta and gamma. PPARg, is mainly expressed in adipose tissue and to lesser extent in colon, the immune system and the retina. Whereas PPARg operates in the catabolism of fatty acids in the liver, PPARg influences the storage of fatty acids in the adipose tissue and plays a role in adipocyte differentiation. PPARg binds to DNA as a heterodimer with retinoid X receptor (RXR), activating expression of target genes after binding ligand.

Leucine zipper down-regulated in cancer 1-like (LDOC1L) is a member of the LDOC1 family. LDOC1L is a nuclear protein containing a leucine zipper-like motif and a proline-rich region that shares noticeable similarity with an SH3-binding domain. LDOC1L localizes to the nucleus and is downregulated in certain cancer cell lines. LDOC1L is believed to regulate the transcriptional response mediated by the nuclear factor kB (NFkB).