Search results

TNFRSF14, a member of the TNF receptor superfamily, is a type I transmembrane protein. TNFRSF14 is expressed in peripheral blood T cells, B cells, monocytes and in various tissues enriched in lymphoid cells. TNFRSF14 operates as a co-stimulatory factor for the activation of lymphoid cells and as a deterrent to infection by herpesvirus. Additionally, TNFRSF14 encourages the proliferation of T cells, and triggers apoptosis of various tumor cells.

CCR6 belongs to the beta chemokine receptor family, which is predicted to be a 7 transmembrane protein similar to G protein-coupled receptors. CCR6 is preferentially expressed by immature dendritic cells and memory T cells. The ligand of CCR6 receptor is macrophage inflammatory protein 3 alpha (MIP-3 alpha). CCR6 receptor has been shown to be vital for B-lineage maturation and antigen-driven B-cell differentiation, and it may regulate the migration and recruitment of dentritic and T cells during inflammatory and immunological responses.

LGALS2 is a soluble beta-galactoside binding lectin that controls cell-to-cell adhesion and cell-to-extracellular matrix interactions and takes part in tumor progression, pre-mRNA splicing and apoptosis. LGALS2 induces apoptosis in activated T cells and binds to the cytokine lymphotoxin-alpha (LTA) with threat of myocardial infarction.

GCSF is a cytokine that controls the production, differentiation, and function of granulocytes. The active protein is found extracellularly. Three transcript variants encoding three different isoforms have been found for this gene. Granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factors are cytokines that act in hematopoiesis by controlling the production, differentiation, and function of 2 related white cell populations of the blood, the granulocytes and the monocytes-macrophages. This csf induces granulocytes.

Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 or CTLA4 or CD152 is a receptor that takes part in the immune checkpoint and inhibits immune response. This protein is fundamentally found in regulatory T cells; however, it acts as an enhancer in regular T cells following its activation, this is eminent in cancers. CTLA4 bounds to CD80 or CD86 on the membrane of antigen presenting cells and downregulates transductions.

Leukemia inhibitory factor receptor (LIFR) is the receptor for leukemia inhibitory factor, a pleiotropic cytokine affecting the differentiation, survival, and proliferation of various cells in the adult and the embryo. LIFR plays an imperative role in a number of aspects of early pregnancy such as blastocyst implantation in the uterus.

Fas and Fas Ligand (FasL) are members of the TNF superfamily and are type I and type II transmembrane proteins, respectively. Binding of FasL to Fas initiates apoptosis in Fas-bearing cells. The apoptosis mechanism involves the recruitment of pro-caspase 8 through an adaptor molecule named FADD followed by processing of the pro-enzyme to active forms. These active caspases subsequently cleave a variety of cellular substrates leading to the eventual cell death. sFasR is able to inhibit FasL-induced apoptosis by acting as a decoy receptor whicht serves as a sink for FasL. The full length Fas Receptor is a 319 a.a type I transmembrane protein, which contains a 157 a.a extracellular domain, a 17 a.a transmembrane domain, and 145 a.a cytoplasmic domain. The mature human Fas ECD shares 55%, 58%, a.a sequence identity with the mouse, rat, Fas, respectively.

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.

Galectin-2 or LGALS2 is a protein, part of the galectin proteins family. The galectin proteins family holds galectin proteins family lectins that mediates adhesion between cells or cells to ECM. This family also take part in pre-mRNA splicing, apoptosis & tumor progression. Galectin-2 induces apoptosis in T cells that are activated & binds to lymphotoxin-a, also can implicatate on myocardial infarction. LGALS2 from human and mouse share about 65% amino acid sequence resemblance.

LYVE-1 has been identified as a major receptor for HA (extracellular matrix glycosaminoglycan hyaluronan) on the lymph vessel wall. The deduced amino acid sequence of LYVE-1 predicts a 322-residue type I integral membrane polypeptide 41% similar to the CD44 HA receptor with a 212-residue extracellular domain containing a single Link module the prototypic HA binding domain of the Link protein superfamily. Like CD44, the LYVE-1 molecule binds both soluble and immobilized HA. However, unlike CD44, the LYVE-1 molecule colocalizes with HA on the luminal face of the lymph vessel wall and is completely absent from blood vessels. Hence, LYVE-1 is the first lymph-specific HA receptor to be characterized and is a uniquely powerful marker for lymph vessels themselves.

CD14 (also known lipopolysaccharide (LPS) receptor) is expressed strongly on monocytes and macrophage and weakly on the surface of neutrophils. CD14 is anchored to cells by linkage to glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) and functions as a high affinity receptor for complexes of LPS and LPS binding protein (LBP). Soluble CD14, also binding to LPS, acts at physiological concentration as an LPS agonist and has, at higher concentrations, an LPS antagonizing effect in cell activation. CD14 has been shown to bind apoptotic cells.

CD1a is a transmembrane glycoproteins, which is structurally related to the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins and form heterodimers with beta-2-microglobulin. CD1a mediates the presentation of primarily lipid and glycolipid antigens of self or microbial origin to T cells. The human genome contains five CD1 family genes organized in a cluster on chromosome 1. The CD1 family members are thought to differ in their cellular localization and specificity for particular lipid ligands. The protein encoded by this gene localizes to the plasma membrane and to recycling vesicles of the early endocytic system. Alternatively spliced transcript variants have been observed, but their biological validity has not been determined.

GH is a member of the prolactin family of hormones which play an important role in growth control. The gene, along with four other related genes, is located at the GH locus on chromosome 17 where they are interspersed in the same transcriptional orientation; an arrangement which is thought to have evolved by a series of gene duplications. The five genes share a remarkably high degree of sequence identity. Alternative splicing generates additional isoforms of each of the five GHs, leading to further diversity and potential for specialization. This particular family member is expressed in the pituitary but not in placental tissue as is the case for the other four genes in the GH locus. Mutations in or deletions of the gene lead to GH deficiency and short stature.

CD166 antigen isoform 2 (ALCAM) is a type 1 membrane glycoprotein and belongs to the immunoglobulin superfamily. ALCAM is expressed on thymic epithelium, microvascular endothelium, activated lymphocytes and monocytes, and monocyte-derived dendritic cells. CD166 and CD6 interaction plays a role in T cell development and T cell regulation, as well as in the binding of T cells and B cells to activated leukocytes.

Kallikrein-8 is a serine protease which degrades various proteins such as casein, fibrinogen, kininogen, fibronectin and collagen type IV. Kallikrein-8 takes part in the formation and maturation of orphan and small synaptic boutons in the Schaffer-collateral pathway, regulates Schaffer-collateral long-term potentiation in the hippocampus and is essential for memory acquisition and synaptic plasticity. Kallikrein-8 participates in the secondary phase of pathogenesis following spinal cord injury and also takes part in skin desquamation and keratinocyte proliferation.

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.

S100A8 is a part of the S100 family of proteins containing 2 EF-hand calcium-binding motifs. S100 proteins are localized in the cytoplasm and/or nucleus of a broad range of cells, and participate in the regulation of cellular processes such as cell cycle progression and differentiation. S100A8 plays a role in the inhibition of casein kinase and as a cytokine. S100A8 altered expression is related with cystic fibrosis disease. S100A8 is a calcium-binding protein that has antimicrobial activity against bacteria and fungi.S100A8 is crucial for resistance towards invasion by pathogenic bacteria. S100A8 up-regulates transcription of genes that are under the control of NF-kappa-B. S100A8 plays a role in the development of endotoxic shock in response to bacterial lipopolysaccharide. S100A8 endorses tubulin polymerization and promotes phagocyte migration and infiltration of granulocytes at sites of wounding. S100A8 takes part as a pro-inflammatory mediator in acute and chronic inflammation and up-regulates the release of IL8 and cell-surface expression of ICAM1.

TNFRSF6B is a member of the Tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily. TNFRSF6B performs as a decoy receptor which races against death receptors for ligand binding. TNFRSF6B has a regulatory role in suppressing FasL- and LIGHT-mediated cell death and T cell activation in addition to inducing angiogenesis via neutralization of TL1A.

Lxn also known as Latexin is a member of the protease inhibitor I47 (latexin) family. Lxn's function is hardly reversible, non-competitive, as well as potent inhibitor of CPA1, CPA2 and CPA4. Furthermore, Lxn plays a role in inflammation. Among the diseases associated with LXN are endocervicitis and listeriosis.

Resistin, a product of the RSTN gene, is a peptide hormone belonging to the class of cysteine-rich secreted proteins which is termed the RELM family, and is also described as ADSF (Adipose Tissue- Specific Secretory Factor) and FIZZ3 (Found in Inflammatory Zone). Human resistin contains 108 amino acids as a prepeptide, and its hydrophobic signal peptide is cleaved before its secretion. Resistin circulates in human blood as a dimeric protein consisting of two 92 amino acid polypeptides, which are disulfide-linked via Cys26.
Resistin may be an important link between obesity and insulin resistance. Mouse resistin, specifically produced and secreted by adipocyte, acts on skeletal muscle myocytes, hepatocytes and adipocytes themselves so that it reduces their sensitivity to insulin. Steppan et al. have suggested that resistin suppresses the ability of insulin to stimulate glucose uptake. They have also suggested that resistin is present at elevated levels in blood of obese mice, and is down regulated by fasting and antidiabetic drugs. Way et al., on the other hand, have found that resistin expression is severely suppressed in obesity and is stimulated by several antidiabetic drugs.
Other studies have shown that mouse resistin increases during the differentiation of adipocytes, but it also seems to inhibit adipogenesis. In contrast, the human adipogenic differentiation is likely to be associated with a down regulation of resistin gene expression.

The FGFs are a family of more than 20 small (~17–26 kDa) secreted peptides. The initial characterization of these proteins focused on their ability to stimulate fibroblast proliferation. This mitogenic activity was mediated through FGF receptors (FGFRs) 1, 2, or 3. A fourth closely related tyrosine kinase receptor (FGFR4) was able to bind the FGFs but did not lead to a mitogenic response.
FGFs modulate cellular activity via at least 5 distinct subfamilies of high-affinity FGF receptors (FGFRs): FGFR-1, -2, -3, and -4, all with intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity and, except for FGFR-4, multiple splice isoforms, and FGFR-5, which lacks an intracellular kinase domain. There is growing evidence that FGFRs can be important for regulation of glucose and lipid homeostasis. The overexpression of a dominant negative form of FGFR-1 in ? cells leads to diabetes in mice, which thus implies that proper FGF signaling is required for normal ? cell function and glycemia maintenance. FGFR-2 appears to be a key molecule during pancreatic development. Moreover, FGFR-4 has been implicated in cholesterol metabolism and bile acid synthesis.
FGF-19, has been shown to cause resistance to diet-induced obesity desensitization and to improve glucose, and lipid profiles in diabetic rodents. Since these effects, at least in part, are mediated through the observed changes in metabolic rates, FGF-19 can be considered as a regulator of energy expenditure.
FGF-21 is preferentially expressed in liver, but an exact knowledge of FGF-21 bioactivity and its mode of action have been lacking to date. FGF-21 is a potent activator of glucose uptake on adipocytes, protects animals from diet-induced obesity when overexpressed in transgenic mice, and lowers blood glucose and triglyceride levels when therapeutically administered to diabetic rodents.