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Fractalkine soluble form is chemotactic for t-cells and monocytes, but not for neutrophils. Fractalkine membrane-bound form promotes adhesion of those leukocytes to endothelial cells. Fractalkine regulates leukocyte adhesion and migration processes at the endothelium and binds to CX3CR1. Fractalkine gene is located on human chromosome 16 along with some CC chemokines known as CCL17 and CCL22.

Fibronectin Leucine Rich Transmembrane Protein 3, also known as FLRT3 is a member of the fibronectin leucine rich transmembrane protein (FLRT) family. FLRT3 contains one fibronectin type-III domain as well as 10 LRR (leucine-rich) repeats and is expressed in the kidney, brain, pancreas, skeletal muscle, lung, liver, placenta, and heart. In addition, the members of the FLRT family play a role in cell adhesion as well as receptor signaling. FLRT3 has been implicated in neurite outgrowth after nerve damage, as a positive regulator of FGF signalling and in homotypic cell adhesion. Furthermore, FLRT3 has an essential function in regulating cellular adhesion among the epithelial apical ridge and the underlying mesenchyme and also in the establishment of the dorso-ventral position of the ridge.

Nonspecific lipid transfer proteins (nsLTPs) are expressed throughout the plant tissues. They have a typical cysteine pattern forming disulfide bonds and are important allergens in fruits and tree nuts. Sensitization to nsLTP Cor a 8.0101 is more frequent among patients with hazelnut allergy in the Mediterranean area than the northern parts of Europe.

PDGF-AA, PDGF-BB and PDGF-AB, are potent mitogens for a variety of cell types including smooth muscle cells, connective tissue cells, bone and cartilage cells, and some blood cells. The PDGF is stored in platelet alpha-granules and released upon platelet activation. The PDGF is involved in a number of biological processes, including hyperplasia, chemotaxis, embryonic neuron development, and respiratory tubule epithelial cell development. Two distinct signaling receptors used by PDGF
have been identified and named PDGFR-alpha and PDGFR-beta. PDGFR-alpha is high-affinity receptor for each of the three PDGF forms. On the other hand, PDGFR-beta interacts with only PDGF-BB and PDGF-AB.

Nephroblastoma Overexpressed (NOV) is a member of the CCN family of secreted cysteine rich regulatory proteins. The full length NOV protein is comprised of 4 structural domains, which present distinct, and sometimes opposing, biological activities. An elevated expression of NOV is linked with certain tumors, including Wilm’s tumor and most nephroblastomas. On the other hand, in other tumor types and certain cancer cell lines, increased tumorgenicity and proliferation is associated with decreased NOV expression.

Growth Differentiation Factor-7 (GDF-7) belongs to the BMP family of TGF-b superfamily proteins. GDF7 elicits its bioactivity via a heterodimeric receptor complex comprised of a type 1 (BMPR-IB) and a type II (BMPR-II or Activin RII) serine/threonine kinase receptor. GDF7 signaling results in the phosphorylation and activation of Smad proteins. GDF-7 is also involved in tendon and ligament formation and repair. In addition, GDF7 regulates bone formation, mesenchymal stem cell differentiation, neuronal differentiation, and axon guidance.

Leukocyte Cell Derived Chemotaxin 1 (214-333 a.a.), also known as LECT1, is a glycosylated transmembrane protein which is cleaved to form a mature, secreted protein. The mature protein encourages chondrocyte growth and inhibits angiogenesis. The mature protein takes part in endochondral bone development by permitting cartilaginous anlagen to be vascularized and replaced by bone. LECT1 is expressed in the avascular area of prehypertrophic cartilage and its expression reduces during vascular invasion and chondrocyte hypertrophy.

Sclerostin (SOST) is a secreted glycoprotein with a C-terminal cysteine knot-like (CTCK) domain and sequence similarity to the DAN (differential screening-selected gene aberrative in neuroblastoma) family of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) antagonists. Sclerostin functions as a negative regulator of bone growth, by inhibiting bone formation. SOST is widely expressed at low levels, with highest levels in the bone, cartilage, kidney, liver, bone marrow and primary osteoblasts differentiated for 21 days. SOST gene defects cause sclerosteosis and bone dysplasia.

The term ‘PDGF’ refers to a family of disulphide bond-linked dimeric isoforms that act as autocrine and paracrine growth factors and are produced by a variety of cell types other than platelets.
They act as potent mitogens for almost all mesenchymally-derived cells. Aberrant expression is involved in certain cancers, fibroproliferative disorders and atherosclerosis. The protein also contributes to wound healing and neural regeneration. There are four members of the PDGF family – PDGF A, PDGF B, PDGF C and PDGF D. Two distinct types of PDGF-A exist – a short form that is soluble and a long form that is retained by the extracellular matrix.

GDF15 is part of the TGF-Beta superfamily which is involved in regulating inflammatory and apoptotic pathways in injured tissues and throughout disease processes. GDF15 is most abundant in the liver. Its expression in liver can be considerably up-regulated in during injury of organs such as liver, kidney, heart and lung. GDF-15 promotes proliferation or growth arrest and differentiation due to differences in cellular differentiation. GDF15 prevents apoptosis in cerebellar granule neurons by activating Akt and inhibiting endogenously active ERK. GDF15 is a novel autocrine/endocrine factor that antagonizes the hypertrophic response and loss of ventricular performance.

FIAF (fasting-induced adipose factor) a.k.a ANGPTL4 or PGAR or HFARP is an adipocytokine up-regulated by fasting, by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor agonists, and by hypoxia. ANGPTL4 is found in human and mouse blood plasma both as a native protein and in a truncated form. In human white adipose tissue and SGBS adipocytes, only the native form of ANGPTL4 could be detected, whereas in mice the differentiation of mouse 3T3-L1 adipocytes is associated with the production of truncated ANGPTL4. However, the truncated ANGPTL4 is produced by human liver. In human blood plasma FIAF is mainly presented in a truncated form (FIAF-S2), whose levels treatment increases (as shown by experimental data). There is an inter individual variation in ANGPTL4 levels of both the truncated and the native form, however those levels were not influenced by prolonged semistarvation and are not associated with body mass index.

Cerebral Cavernous Malformation 2, also known as CCM2 is a piece of the CCM signaling pathway which is a vital regulator of heart and vessel formation as well as integrity. CCM2 performs through the stabilization of endothelial cell junctions. In addition, CCM2 functions as a scaffold protein for MAP2K3-MAP3K3 signaling. CCM2 plays a key role in the modulation of MAP3K3-dependent p38 activation induced by hyperosmotic shock. Mutations in CCM2 result in cerebral cavernous malformations. Multiple transcript variants encoding dissimilar isoforms have been discovered for CCM2.

MBP is a major component of the myelin sheath of oligodendrocytes and Schwann cells in the nervous system, although, MBP-related transcripts are also present in the bone marrow and the immune system. These mRNAs emerge from the long MBP gene which holds three additional exons located upstream of the classic MBP exons. The Golli mRNAs contain three exons unique to Golli-MBP, spliced in-frame to one or more MBP exons. The second family of transcripts contains only MBP exons and produces the well characterized myelin basic proteins. MBP transcription unit is an essential part of the Golli transcription unit and the arrangement is important for the function and/or regulation of these genes.

PDRG1 is a 133 amino acid protein that localizes to the cytoplasm and belongs to the prefoldin subunit beta family. PDRG1 is expressed primarily in normal testicular tissue, it is functionally induced by ultraviolet light and is thought to have a role in chaperone-mediated protein folding, possibly having a role in cellular degradation. PDRG1 is linked to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, spinal muscular atrophy, ring chromosome 20 epilepsy syndrome and Alagille syndrome.

Connective Tissue Growth Factor belongs to the CCN family of proteins. The CCN family presently consists of six members in human also known as: Cyr61 (Cystein rich 61), CTGF (Connective Tissue Growth Factor), Nov (Nephroblastoma Overexpressed gene), WISP-1, 2 and 3 (Wnt-1 Induced Secreted Proteins). The CCN genes encode secreted proteins associated with the Extracellular Matrix (ECM) and cell membrane.
CCN proteins are matricellular proteins which are involved in the regulation of various cellular functions including: proliferation, differentiation, survival, adhesion and migration. They are expressed in derivatives of the three embryonic sheets and are implicated in the development of kidney, nervous system, muscle, bone marrow, cartilage and bone. During adulthood, they are implicated in wound healing, bone fracture repair, and pathologies such as: fibrosis, vascular ailments and tumorigenesis.
Full length secreted CCN proteins can show an antiproliferative activity, whereas truncated isoforms are likely to stimulate proliferation and behave as oncogenes.
The full length protein consists of four modulesModule I shares partial identity with the N-terminal part of the IGFBPs.
Module II includes a stretch of 70amino acid residues – which shares sequence identity with the Von Willebrand Factor Type C repeat (VWC).
Module III contains sequences sharing identity with the Thrombospondin type 1 repeat (TSP1) (WSXCSXXCG), which is thought to be implicated in the binding of sulfated glycoconjugates and to be important for cell adhesion.
Module IV, also designated CT, is encoded by exon5. It is the leasts conserved one of the four domains at the level of nucleotide sequence, but it appears to be critical for several of the biological functions attributed to the CCN proteins. Module IV resembles the CT domain of several extracellular protein including, Von Willebrand's factor and mucins. Sequence similarities to binding motifs are also found within this domain.
Proteolysis of the secreted full-length CCN proteins that has been reported in the case of CCN2 and CCN3 might result in the production of CCN-derived peptides with high affinity for ligands that full-length CNN proteins bind only poorly. Amino-truncated CCN2 isoforms were biologically active whereas no specific biological activity has been attributed to the truncated CCN3. Although the molecular processes underlying the production of these secreted isoforms is presently unknown, it is important to note that proteolysis occur at the same amino acid residues in both CCN2 and CCN3. An elevated expression of CCN2 has also been detected by Northern blotting in human invasive mammary ductal carcinomas, dermatofibromas, pyogenic granuloma, endothelial cells of angiolipomas and angioleiomyomas, and in pancreatic tumors. A study performed with chondrosarcomas representative of various histological grades established that CCN2 expression was closely correlated with increasing levels of malignancy.
In agreement with CCN2 playing a role in brain tumor angiogenesis, immunocytochemistry studies indicated that both glioblastoma tumor cells and proliferating endothelial cells stained positive for CCN2. In astrocytomas, CCN2 expression was particularly elevated in high grade tumors, with a marked effect of CCN2 on cell proliferation. Downregulation of CCN2 expression in these cells was associated with a growth arrest at the G1/S transition while over-expression of CCN2 induced a two-fold increase of the number of cells in the G1 phase. Gene profiling analysis allowed to identify a set of about 50 genes whose expression might account for the proliferative activity of CCN2 in these cells.
CCN2 was seen in a higher proportion of mononuclear cells of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

PHD finger protein 13 (PHF13) is necessary for normal chromosome separation during mitosis and also for normal chromosome condensation during the early stages of mitosis. PHF13 modulates chromatin structure.

Calmodulin Like 5, also known as CALML5 is a part of the calmodulin family of calcium binding proteins. CALML5 undergoes a conformational change as a result of binding calcium. CALML5 is taking part in terminal differentiation of keratinocytes and encodes a calcium binding protein expressed in the epidermis.

Acidic fibroblast growth factor is a member of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family. FGF family members possess broad mitogenic and cell survival activities, and are involved in a variety of biological processes, including embryonic development, cell growth, morphogenesis, tissue repair, tumor growth and invasion. FGF1 functions as a modifier of endothelial cell migration and proliferation, as well as an angiogenic factor.FGF1 acts as a mitogen for a variety of mesoderm- and neuroectoderm-derived cells in vitro, thus is thought to be involved in organogenesis. Three alternatively spliced variants encoding different isoforms have been described. The binding growth factors are angiogenic agents in vivo and are potent mitogens for a variety of cell types in vitro. There are differences in the tissue distribution and concentration of these 2 growth factors.

EPGN is an EGF-related polypeptide growth factor that signals through the ErbB receptor-1. EPGN is produced in numerous tissues, including the testis, liver, heart and in certain tumor cells. EPGN is mitogenic for fibroblasts and epithelial cells. Human EPGN is originally synthesized as a glycosylated 14.7 kDa transmembrane precursor protein, which is processed by proteolytic cleavage to produce a mature soluble sequence.

MALD3 (a non-specific lipid transfer protein) is a major apple allergen. LTPs are found mainly in aerial plant organs such as leaves, seeds, flowers, and fruit. MALD3 is a heat-stable protein which is characterized by having resistance to pepsin hydrolysis.

Dickkopf-related protein 1 (DKK1) antagonizes canonical Wnt signaling by inhibiting LRP5/6 interaction with Wnt and by creating a ternary complex with the transmembrane protein KREMEN which promotes internalization of LRP5/6. DKKs have a significant role in vertebrate development, where they locally inhibit Wnt controlled processes for instance antero-posterior axial patterning, limb development, somitogenesis and eye formation. Furthermore, Dkks are involved in bone formation and bone disease, cancer and Alzheimer disease in Adults.

sRANK Receptor is a part of of the TNF superfamily of ligands and receptors which participates in the regulation of specific immunity and bone turnover. sRANK Receptor was originally acknowledged as a dendritic-cell-membrane protein, which by interacting with RANKL augments the capacity of dendritic cells to stimulate naive T cell proliferation and to endorse the survival of RANK and T cells. The full length human RANK cDNA encodes a type I transmembrane protein of 616 amino acids with a predicted 183 amino acid extracellular domain and a 383 amino acid cytoplasmic domain. sRANK Receptor is also expressed in a various tissues including skeletal muscle, thymus, liver, colon, small intestine and adrenal gland.

DENR takes part in the translation of target mRNAs by scanning and recognizing the initiation codon. DENR protein is involved in the intonation of the translational profile of a subset of cancer-related mRNAs when engaged to the translational initiation complex by the oncogene MCTS1.

EPCAM is a carcinoma-associated antigen and belongs to a family which includes at least 2 type I membrane proteins. The EPCAM protein has a role in embryonic stem cells proliferation and differentiation. EPCAM is used as a target for immunotherapy treatment of human carcinomas. EPCAM is expressed on most normal epithelial cells and gastrointestinal carcinomas and acts as a homotypic calcium-independent cell adhesion molecule. Epithelial cell adhesion molecules (EPCAM) can act as a physical homophilic interaction molecule between intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) and intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs) at the mucosal epithelium for supplying immunological barrier as a first line of defense against mucosal infection. EPCAM gene mutations result in congenital tufting enteropathy.