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IFNs are cytokines that are widely known to induce potent anti-viral activity. IFN-a exerts a variety of other biological effects, including antitumor and immunomodulatory activities and are increasingly used clinically to treat a range of malignancies, myelodysplasias and autoimmune diseases.

ARF6 is a part of the ADP ribosylation factor family of GTP-binding proteins. ARF6 is restricted to the plasma membrane, and controls vesicular trafficking, remodeling of membrane lipids, and signaling pathways which lead to actin remodeling. Furthermore, ARF6 is a key player in conservation of organelle integrity, assembly of coat proteins and activation of phospholipase D.

KGF-2 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. FGF-10 exhibits mitogenic activity for keratinizing epidermal cells, but essentially no activity for fibroblasts, which is similar to the biological activity of FGF7. Studies of the mouse homolog of suggested that this gene is required for embryonic epidermal morphogenesis including brain development, lung morphogenesis, and initiation of lim bud formation. This gene is also implicated to be a primary factor in the process of wound healing.

Cofilin is a family of actin-binding proteins which disassembles actin filaments. It is a widely distributed intracellular actin-modulating protein that binds and depolymerizes filamentous F-actin and inhibits the polymerization of monomeric G-actin in a pH-dependent manner. It is involved in the translocation of actin-cofilin complex from cytoplasm to nucleus.

Apoptosis-Inducing Factor, Mitochondrion-Associated, 1 (AIFM1) is a mitochondrial protein which translocates to the nucleus once apoptosis has been initiated. AIFM1 causes DNA fragmentation and chromatin condensation and also triggers the release of cytochrome c and caspase-9 from mitochondria. Bcl-2 overexpression prevents the release of AIFM1 from mitochondria, but doesn’t block its apoptogenic activity.

ANXA2 is part of the annexin family and is involved in the regulation of cellular growth and in signal transduction pathways. ANXA2 protein functions as an autocrine factor which increases osteoclast formation and bone resorption. ANXA2 is associated with sickle cell osteonecrosis. Reduced ANXA2 expression is associated with osteosarcoma metastases. ANXA2 is part of the putative cell surface vitamin D binding protein binding site complex and functions to mediate the chemotactic cofactor effect. ANXA2 is involved in dysferlin deficiency and in muscular dystrophies. Human colon adenocarcinoma cell differentiation is related with an up-regulation of ANXA2.

The scaffolding protein encoded by the CAV1 gene is the key component of the caveolae plasma membranes found in most cell types. Cholesterol is vital for caveolae formation and maintenance, and caveolae structure is highly sensitive to cholesterol depletion or treatment with cholesterol binding drugs. CAV1 can tightly and specifically bind free cholesterol and artificial cholesterol containing vesicles. Caveolin 1 links integrin subunits to the tyrosine kinase FYN, which is an initiating step in coupling integrins to the Ras-ERK pathway and promoting cell cycle progression. CAV1 is a tumor suppressor gene candidate and a negative regulator of the Ras-p42/44 mitogen-activated kinase. Caveolin 1 and caveolin 2 are positioned next to each other on chromosome 7 and express co-localizing proteins which form a stable hetero-oligomeric complex cascade. Mutations in the CAV1 gene are linked to Berardinelli-Seip congenital lipodystrophy.

The proteasome is a multicatalytic proteinase complex with an extremely organized ring-shaped 20S core structure. The core structure consists of 4 rings of 28 non-identical subunits; 2 rings consist of 7 alpha subunits and 2 rings consist of 7 beta subunits. Proteasomes are spread all over the eukaryotic cells in large quantities and cleave peptides in an ATP/ubiquitin-dependent procedure in a non-lysosomal pathway. A vital role of a modified proteasome, the immunoproteasome, is the handling of class I MHC peptides.

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.

Abhydrolase domain-containing protein 10 (ABHD10) is a member of the AB hydrolase superfamily.

Lipopolysaccharide-induced TNF-alpha factor (LITAF) is a small integral membrane protein of lysosome/late endosome. The expression of inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-alpha in Lipopolysaccharide-induced processes is mediated by LITAF. LITAF connects to STAT6B, which belongs to the STAT6 family forming a complex on the TNF-alpha promoter that modifies TNF activity. High levels of expression of LITAF mRNA are observed mostly in the placenta, peripheral blood leukocytes, lymph nodes and spleen.

PLGF is a growth factor active in angiogenesis, and endothelial cell growth, stimulating their proliferation and migration. It binds to receptor vegfr-1/flt1.

Angiopoietin-related protein 7 (ANGPTL7), belongs to the angiopoietin-like family of molecules. ANGPTL7 is expressed in the corneal stroma, trabecular meshwork, and sclera. ANGPTL7 production is up-regulated in trabecular meshwork cells by glucocorticoids and TGF-Beta and in cartilage by TNF-alpha.

TPMT, thiopurine S-methyltransferase, is a cytosolic enzyme that metabolizes thiopurine drugs via S-adenosyl-L-methionine as the S-methyl donor and S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine as a byproduct. TPMT activity exhibits autosomal codominant genetic polymorphism, and patients inheriting TPMT-deficiency are at high risk of potentially fatal hematopoietic toxicity.

Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1B (CDKN1B) is a member of the Cip/Kip family of cyclin dependent kinase (Cdk) inhibitor proteins. The CDKN1B protein binds to and prevents the activation of cyclin E-CDK2 or cyclin D-CDK4 complexes, and so controls the cell cycle progression at G1. CDKN1B is often referred to as a cell cycle inhibitor protein since its major function is to stop or slow down the cell division cycle. The degradation of the CDKN1B protein, which is triggered by its CDK dependent phosphorylation and ensuing ubiquitination by SCF complexes, is compulsory for the cellular transition from inactive to the proliferative state.

GTF2B is one of the ubiquitous factors needed for transcription initiation by RNA polymerase II preinitiation factor. GTF2B localizes to the nucleus where it forms a complex (the DAB complex) with transcription factors IID and IIA. GTF2 plays a role as a bridge between IID, which initially recognizes the promoter sequence, and RNA polymerase II. GTF2B is involved in the selection of the transcription start site.

PLGF is a growth factor active in angiogenesis, and endothelial cell growth, stimulating their proliferation and migration. It binds to receptor vegfr-1/flt1.
PLGF-2 binds neuropilin-1 and 2 in a dependent way.

Vaspin (visceral adipose-specific SERPIN), a newly identified adipokine, which is a member of serine protease inhibitor family. Vaspin is also a unique insulin sensitizing adipocytokine in obesity. A recent publication indicates that induction of human vaspin mRNA expression in adipose tissue is regulated in a fat depot-specific manner and could be associated with parameters of obesity, insulin resistance, and glucose metabolism.

Arylsulfatase A (ARSA) hydrolyzes cerebrosidesulfate to cerebroside and sulfate. ARSA is inhibited by phosphate. The phosphate develops a covalent bond with the active site 3-oxoalanine. ARSA gene defects cause metachromatic leucodystrophy (MLD), a progressive demyelination disease which results in various neurological symptoms and ultimately death.

MOG is a membrane protein expressed on the oligodendrocyte cell surface and the outermost surface of myelin sheaths. Due to this localization, it is a primary target antigen involved in immune-mediated demyelination. MOG is involved in completion and maintenance of the myelin sheath and in cell-cell communication. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been identified Minor component of the myelin sheath is involved in completion and/or maintenance of the myelin sheath and in cell- cell communication.

X-Prolyl Aminopeptidase-1, also known as XPNPEP1 is a member of the peptidase M24B family. XPNPEP1 encodes the cytosolic form of a metalloaminopeptidase which catalyzes the cleavage of the N-terminal amino acid adjacent to a proline residue. Furthermore, XPNPEP1 plays a role in degradation as well as maturation of tachykinins, neuropeptides and peptide hormones.

Lymphotoxin alpha, a member of the tumor necrosis factor family, is a cytokine produced by lymphocytes. LTA is highly inducible, secreted, and exists as homotrimeric molecule. LTA forms heterotrimers with lymphotoxin-beta which anchors lymphotoxin-alpha to the cell surface. LTA mediates a large variety of inflammatory, immunostimulatory, and antiviral responses. LTA is also involved in the formation of secondary lymphoid organs during development and plays a role in apoptosis.