Search results

GNMT is an enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of S-adenosyl-L-methionine with glycine to S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine and sarcosine. GNMT is located in the cytoplasm and acts as a homotetramer. Defects in the GNMT gene causes of GNMT deficiency (hypermethioninemia). GNMT affects DNA methylation by regulating the ratio of S-adenosylmethionine to S-adenosylhomocystine and is involved in the detoxification pathway in liver cells. GNMT expression is diminished in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). GNMT catalyzes the methylation of glycine by using s- adenosylmethionine (adomet) to form n-methylglycine (sarcosine) with the concomitant production of s-adenosylhomocysteine (adohcy). GNMT plays an essential role in the regulation of tissue concentration of adomet and of metabolism of methionine.

S100A4 is a member of the S100 family of proteins containing 2 EF-hand calcium-binding motifs. S100 belongs to the family of calcium binding proteins such as calmodulin and troponin C. S100A is composed of an alpha and beta chain whereas S100B is composed of two beta chains. S100 protein is also expressed in the antigen presenting cells such as the Langerhans cells in skin and interdigitating reticulum cells in the paracortex of lymph nodes. S100 proteins are localized either in the cytoplasm or the nucleus of a wide range of cells. S100 proteins are involved in the regulation of a number of cellular processes such as cell cycle progression and differentiation. S100A4 may function in motility, invasion, and tubulin polymerization. There are at least 13 members in the S100 gene family, which are located as a cluster on chromosome 1q21. Chromosomal rearrangements and altered expression of the S100A4 gene have been implicated in tumor metastasis.

COPZ1 is a member of the adaptor complexes small subunit family. Coatomer is an oligomeric complex which contains as a minimum the alpha, beta, beta', gamma, delta, epsilon and zeta subunits. The zeta subunit has a part in regulating the coat assembly and, therefore, the rate of biosynthetic protein transport due to its association-dissociation properties with the coatomer complex.

AMTN is a member of the amelotin family. AMTN is a lately discovered secreted enamel protein. AMTN mainly expressed during the maturation stage of enamel formation. AMTN gathers in a basal lamina-like structure at the interface between ameloblasts and enamel mineral and it co-localizes with one more lately described enamel protein, odontogenic ameloblast- related protein (ODAM(.

S100A11 is a member of the S100 family of proteins which contains two EF-hand calcium-binding motifs and is thought to be involved in the regulation of a number of cellular processes including cell cycle progression and differentiation. S100A11 may function in motility, invasion and tubulin polymerisation. S100 proteins are localized either in the cytoplasm or the nucleus of a wide range of cells. There are at least 13 members in the S100 gene family, which are located as a cluster on chromosome 1q21. Chromosomal rearrangements and altered expression of S100A11 have been implicated in tumor metastasis.

PPIases catalyze the cis-trans isomerization of proline imidic peptide bonds in oligopeptides and accelerate the folding of proteins. Cyclophilin-A is a cyclosporin binding-protein and may play a role in cyclosporin A-mediated immunosuppression. Cyclophilin-A can also interact with several HIV proteins, including p55 gag, Vpr, and capsid protein, and has been shown to be necessary for the formation of infectious HIV virions. Multiple pseudogenes that map to different chromosomes have been reported.

The galectins are a family of beta-galactoside-binding proteins implicated in modulating cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions. Galectin-1 is an autocrine negative growth factor that regulates cell proliferation. Galectin-1 regulates cell apoptosis and cell differentiation. Galectin-1 binds CD45, CD3 and CD4 & inhibits CD45 protein phosphatase activity and therefore the dephosphorylation of lyn kinase. Galectin-1 and its ligands are one of the master regulators of immune responses as T-cell homeostasis and survival, T-cell immune disorders, inflammation and allergies as well as host–pathogen interactions. Galectin-1 expression or overexpression in tumors and/or the tissue surrounding them must be considered as a sign of the malignant tumor progression that is often related to the long-range dissemination of tumoral cells (metastasis), to their dissemination into the surrounding normal tissue, and to tumor immune-escape. Galectin-1 in its oxidized form plays a number of important roles in the regeneration of the central nervous system after injury. The targeted overexpression (or delivery) of Galectin-1 should be considered as a method of choice for the treatment of some kinds of inflammation-related diseases, neurodegenerative pathologies and muscular dystrophies. In contrast, the targeted inhibition of Galectin-1 expression is what should be developed for therapeutic applications against cancer progression. Galectin-1 is thus a promising molecular target for the development of new and original therapeutic tools. There is 88% homology between the human and mouse galectin-1.

SecB, a significant chaperone that takes part in protein export, binds various ligands rapidly with high affinity and low specificity. SecB plays an important role during protein export through the general secretory pathway by modulating the partitioning of precursors between folding or aggregation and delivery to the membrane-bound translocation apparatus. SecB has the potential to take part in functions outside of export acting as a universal nonspecific chaperone to provide buffering capacity of the nonnative state of proteins in the cytosolic pool.

GroES protein is the co-chaperonin of GroES in E.coli and assists protein folding. GroEL mediated folding requires the co-chaperonin GroES which is essential for viability. GroES is composed of a single heptameric ring of 10kDa subunits that binds to the ends of the GroEL cylinder. GroES gene was amplified by PCR from E.coli and cloned into an expression vector. This protein was overexpressed in E.coli and was purified by using conventional chromatography techniques.

NF-kappa-B inhibitor-interacting Ras-like protein 1 (NKIRAS1) is a member of the small GTPase superfamily. NKIRAS1 is an unusual Ras-like protein which acts as a potent regulator of NF-kappa-B activity by thwarting the degradation of NF-kappa-B inhibitor beta (NFKBIB) by most signals, describing why NFKBIB is more resistant to degradation. NKIRAS1 functions by blocking phosphorylation of NFKBIB and mediating cytoplasmic retention of p65/RELA NF-kappa-B subunit. Both GTP- and GDP-bound forms block phosphorylation of NFKBIB.

ETHE1 is a mitochondrial sulfur dioxygenase involved in catabolism of sulfide that accumulates to toxic levels in ethylmalonic encephalopathy. Mutations of ETHE1 were detected in all the typical ethylmalonic encephalopathy patients analysed, but no ETHE1 mutations were identified in patients presenting with early onset progressive encephalopathy with ethylmalonic aciduria.

EIF4E is part of the eukaryotic initiation factor 4 families, controls translation of maternal mRNAs in early embryos before the onset of zygotic transcription. EIF4E identifies and binds to the 7 methyl GTP cap structure of eukaryotic mRNAs, thus modulates the initiation of translation. EIF4E enables ribosome binding by inducing the unwinding of the mRNAs secondary structures.

DNAJB11 is a member of the evolutionarily conserved DNAJ/HSP40 family of proteins, which regulate molecular chaperone activity by stimulating ATPase activity. DNAJB11 serves as a co-chaperone for HSPA5 and binds directly to both unfolded proteins which are substrates for ERAD and nascent unfolded peptide chains, but dissociates from the HSPA5-unfolded protein complex before folding is completed.

Collagen, a major component of the extracellular matrix, is a fibrous protein that provides tensile strength to tissues giving them structural integrity. Collagen and its derivative, gelatin, have been widely used in medical, pharmaceutical and consumer products for more than 100 years. The supply of these materials, created from animal remains, is both abundant and inexpensive. However, most formulations are not highly purified and have the potential to cause an inflammatory reaction in some product users. In addition, concerns have been raised over the last several years about the potential for contamination of bovine products with the agent that causes mad cow disease and its human variant, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. Animal collagens are subject to extensive modifications that continue over the life of the molecule in the extracellular space. These differences influence both the extractability of collagens from tissue and the biophysical characteristics of these collagens. As a result, collagens isolated from tissues exhibit significant lot-to-lot variability and, as bulk materials, are often analytically intractable. Products that contain animal-derived collagen can induce potentially harmful inflammatory or immune responses in humans and pose risk of contamination with viruses or prions, potentially life-threatening pathogens. Recombinant collagens are essentially identical to the native collagen protein thereby reducing the risk of inflammation, immune response, and disease as compared to animal-sourced collagen.

Mortality factor 4-like protein 1 (MORF4L1) is a member of the MRG family. MORF4L1 is a component of the NuA4 histone acetyltransferase (HAT) complex which is involved in transcriptional activation of select genes mostly by acetylation of nucleosomal histones H4 and H2A. MORF4L1 is a transcription factor expressed in various human tissues, and its orthologs have been found in many other eukaryotes which comprise the MRG protein family. The C-terminal part of MORF4L1 forms a conserved MRG domain that is involved in interactions with the tumor suppressor protein retinoblastoma and a nucleoprotein.

LASP1 has a vital part in the regulation of dynamic actin-based, cytoskeletal activities. Agonist-dependent changes in LASP1 phosphorylation can additionally assist in regulation of actin-associated ion transport activities in the parietal cell and in several other F-actin-rich secretory epithelial cell types.

STAM Binding Protein (STAMBP) is a zinc metalloprotease which specifically cleaves Lys-63-linked polyubiquitin chains, however it doesn’t cleave Lys-48-linked polyubiquitin chains. STAMBP has a role in signal transduction for cell growth and MYC induction mediated by IL-2 and GM-CSF. In addition, STAMBP potentiates BMP signaling by antagonizing the inhibitory action of SMAD6 and SMAD7. STAMBP also has a major role in regulation of cell surface receptor-mediated endocytosis and ubiquitin-dependent sorting of receptors to lysosomes. Endosomal localization of STAMBP is essential for efficient EGFR degradation but not for its internalization. STAMBP is also involved in the negative regulation of PI3K-AKT-mTOR and RAS-MAP signaling pathways.

S100A10 is a member of the S100 family of proteins contains two EF-hand calcium-binding motifs and is thought to be involved in the regulation of a number of cellular processes including cell cycle progression and differentiation. S100 proteins are localized either in the cytoplasm or the nucleus of a wide range of cells. There are at least 13 members in the S100 gene family, which are located as a cluster on chromosome 1q21. S100A10 may function in exocytosis and endocytosis.

Binding immunoglobulin protein (BiP or HSPA5) is a member of the family of ~70kDa heat shock proteins (HSP 70). HSPA5 is a stress response protein which is induced by agents or conditions that adversely affect endoplasmic reticulum (ER) function. HSPA5 is crucial for the proper glycosylation, folding as well as for the maintenance of cell homeostasis and the prevention of apoptosis.

Clusterin also named Apolipoprotein J (APO-J) is a 75-80 kD disulfide-linked heterodimeric protein containing about 30% of N-linked carbohydrate rich in sialic acid but truncated forms targeted to the nucleus have also been identified.
The precursor polypeptide chain is cleaved proteolytically to remove the 22-mer secretory signal peptide and subsequently between residues 227/228 to generate the a and b chains. These are assembled in anti-parallel to give a heterodimeric molecule in which the cysteine-rich centers are linked by five disulfide bridges and are flanked by two predicted coiled-coil a-helices and three predicted amphipathic a-helices.
Across a broad range of species clusterin shows a high degree of sequence homology ranging from 70% to 80%. It is nearly ubiquitously expressed in most mammalian tissues and can be found in plasma, milk, urine, cerebrospinal fluid and semen.
It is able to bind and form complexes with numerous partners such as immunoglobulins, lipids, heparin, bacteria, complement components, paraoxonase, beta amyloid, leptin and others. Clusterin has been ascribed a plethora of functions such as phagocyte recruitment, aggregation induction, complement attack prevention, apoptosis inhibition, membrane remodeling, lipid transport, hormone transport and/or scavenging, matrix metalloproteinase inhibition.
A genuine function of clusterin has not been defined. One tempting hypothesis says that clusterin is an extracellular chaperone protecting cells from stress induced insults caused by degraded and misfolded protein precipitates.
Clusterin is up- or down regulated on the mRNA or protein level in many pathological and clinically relevant situations including cancer, organ regeneration, infection, Alzheimer disease, retinitis pigmentosa, myocardial infarction, renal tubular damage, autoimmunity and others.

WW and C2 Domain Containing 1 (WWC1) is a cytoplasmic phosphoprotein which interacts with PRKC-zeta and dynein light chain-1. WWC1 takes part in cognition and memory performance. In some individuals, alleles of WWC1 have enhanced memory.

C3 is central to the activation of all 3 pathways of complement activation. Initiation of each pathway generates proteolytic enzyme complexes which binds the target surface. These enzymes cleave a peptide bond in C3 releasing the anaphylatoxin C3a and activating C3b. Most of the C3 activated during complement activation never attaches to the surface due to its thioester reaction with water forming fluid phase C3b which is rapidly inactivated by factors H and I forming iC3b. Surface-bound C3b is necessary in all 3 pathways for efficient activation of C5 and formation of C5b-9 complexes that lyse the target cell membrane.

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.