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The gene for TNFRSF12A was initially recognized as a fibroblast growth factor inducible immediate early response gene Fn14 in mouse NIH 3T3 fibroblasts. Human TNFRSF12A cDNA encodes a 129 amino acid residue type I transmembrane protein with a 27 aa signal peptide, a 53 aa extracellular domain, a 21 aa transmembrane domain and a 28 aa cytoplasmic domain. Human and mouse TNFRSF12A hold 82% aa sequence identity. TNFRSF12 is the tiniest member of the TNF receptor superfamily and has only one cysteine rich region in its extracellular domain. The TNFRSF12A cytoplasmic domain holds one TRAF binding motif which binds TRAFs 1, 2, and 3. TNFRSF12A binds its ligand TWEAK/TNFSF12A with high affinity to initiate a signal transduction cascade which subject to the cell type, causes different cellular responses such as cell death, cell proliferation, and angiogenesis.

PLA2G7 is a secreted enzyme which catalyzes the degradation of platelet-activating factor to biologically inactive products. The PLA2G7 enzyme is produced by inflammatory cells and hydrolyzes oxidised phospholipids in LDL. In the blood, PLA2G7 goes mainly with LDL and less than 20% is coupled with HDL.
PLA2G7 is implicated in the development of atherosclerosis and is also a marker for cardiac disease. PLA2G7 might have a major physiologic effect in the presence of inflammatory bodily responses.
PLA2G7 alters the action of PAF (platelet-activating factor) by hydrolyzing the sn-2 ester bond to yield the biologically inactive lyso-PAF. PLA2G7 has specificity for substrates with a short residue at the sn-2 position. PLA2G7 is inactive against long-chain phospholipids.
PLA2G7 gene defects are the source of platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase deficiency, which is a trait that is present in 27% of the Japanese population.

GMCSF is a cytokine that controls the production, differentiation, and function of granulocytes and macrophages. The active form of the protein is found extracellularly as a homodimer. This gene has been localized to a cluster of related genes at chromosome region 5q31, which is known to be associated with interstitial deletions in the 5q- syndrome and acute myelogenous leukemia. Other genes in the cluster include those encoding interleukins 4, 5, and 13.
GM-CSF stimulates the growth and differentiation of hematopoietic precursor cells from various lineages, including granulocytes, macrophages, eosinophils and erythrocytes.

Epidermal growth factor has a profound effect on the differentiation of specific cells in vivo and is a potent mitogenic factor for a variety of cultured cells of both ectodermal and mesodermal origin. The EGF precursor is believed to exist as a membrane-bound molecule which is proteolytically cleaved to generate the 53-amino acid peptide hormone that stimulates cells to divide.
EGF stimulates the growth of various epidermal and epithelial tissues in vivo and in vitro and of some fibroblasts in cell culture.

Fibroblast Growth Factors (FGFs) comprise a family of at least eighteen structurally realted proteins that are involved in a multitude of physiological and pathological cellular processes, including cell growth, differentation, angiogenesis, wound healing and tumorgenesis. The biological activities of the FGFs are mediated by a family if type I transmembrane tyrosine kinases which undergo dimerization and autophosphorylation after ligand binding. Four distinct genes encoding closely related FGF receptors, FGFR-1to -4 are known. Multiple forms of FGFR-1 to -3 are generated by alternative splicing of the mRNAs. A frequent splicing event involving FGFR-1 and -2 results in receptors containing all three Ig domains, referred to as the alpha isoform, or only IgII and IgIII, referred to as the ? isoform. Only the alpha isoform has been identified for FGFR-3 and FGFR-4. Additional splicing events for FGFR-1 to -3, involving the C-terminal half of the IgIII domain encoded by two mutually exclusive alternative exons, generate FGF receptors with alternative IgIII domains (IIIb and IIIc). A IIIa isoform which is a secreted FGF binding protein containing only the N-terminal half of the IgIII domain plus some intron sequences has also been reported for FGFR-1. Mutations in FGFR-1 to -3 have been found in patients with birth defects involving craniosynostosis.

IL-1 alpha is produced by activated macrophages, stimulates thymocyte proliferation by inducing il-2 release, b-cell maturation and proliferation, and fibroblast growth factor activity. IL1A proteins are involved in the inflammatory response, being identified as endogenous pyrogens, and are reported to stimulate the release of prostaglandin from synovial cells.

NADH dehydrogenase [ubiquinone] 1 alpha subcomplex assembly factor 4 (NDUFAF4) is involved in the compilation of mitochondrial NADH: ubiquinone oxidoreductase complex (complex I). In addition, NDUFAF4 is involved in cell proliferation and survival of hormone-dependent tumor cells. NDUFAF4 may also be a regulator of breast tumor cell invasion. NDUFAF4 gene mutations cause the mitochondrial complex I deficiency.

Tumor necrosis factor is a cytokine involved in systemic inflammation and is a member of a group of cytokines that all stimulate the acute phase reaction. TNF is mainly secreted by macrophages.
TNF causes apoptotic cell death, cellular proliferation, differentiation, inflammation, tumorigenesisand viral replication, TNF is also involved in lipid metabolism, and coagulation. TNF's primary role is in the regulation of immune cells.
Dysregulation and, in particular, overproduction of TNF have been implicated in a variety of human diseases- autoimmune diseases, insulin resistance, and cancer.

Interleukin-10 is a multifunctional cytokine produced by a variety of cell types including T helper cells activated B cells and activated macrophages. Interleukin-10 regulates immune-mediated inflammation and modulates the function of cells such as lymphocytes, monocytes, natural killer cells and dendritic cells.

Galectins are a family of animal lectins with an affinity for beta-galactosides. This family has at least 14 identified members. Galectins share similarities in the CRD (the carbohydrate recognition domain). Galectins are synthesized as cytosolic proteins. Though localized principally in the cytoplasm and lacking a classical signal peptide, galectins can also be stimulated to secretion by non-classical pathways or alternatively targeted to the nucleus. Galectins are involved in modulating cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions. Human Galectin-7 belongs to the prototypical Galectins containing a single CRD, which is initially identified in human epidermis as a monomer. The Galectin-7 expression is induced by tumor suppressor protein p53 and associated with apoptosis. Galectin-7 is a pro-apoptotic protein which functions intracellularlly upstream of JNK activation and mitochondrial cytochrome c release. The correlation of Galectin-7 with the UV-induced apoptosis of keratinocytes presents a critical mechanism in the maintenance of epidermal homeostasis. Human Galectin-7 is localized in both nucleus and cytoplasm.

The Argonaute protein is part of the RISC or RNA-induced silencing complex, as so, the protein has a key part in the slicing processes of RNA. The RNA interference (RNAi) is being held by RISC. Small non-coding RNA fragments bond to the Argonaute proteins, through base pairing, eventually leads to the cleavage of messenger RNA or translation suppression.

TFPI is a protease inhibitor which controls the tissue factor (TF)-dependent pathway of blood coagulation. The coagulation process starts with the creation of a factor VIIa-TF complex, that proteolytically triggers additional proteases (factors IX and X) and eventually results in a fibrin clot. TFPI inhibits the activated factor X and VIIa-TF proteases in an autoregulatory loop. TFPI is glycosylated and predominantly located in the vascular endothelium and plasma in both free forms and complexed with plasma lipoproteins. A number of alternatively spliced transcript variants of this gene have are known, however the full-length nature of several of these variants were not yet established.

Platelet Factor 4 Variant 1 (PF4V1) is a member of the intercrine alpha (chemokine CxC) family. PF4V1 is an inhibitor of angiogenesis and inhibitor of endothelial cell chemotaxis (in vitro).

Eukaryotic elongation factor-2 kinase (EEF2K) is threonine kinase which regulates protein synthesis by means of controlling the rate of peptide chain elongation. Upon activation through a diversity of upstream kinases including AMPK or TRPM7, EEF2K phosphorylates the elongation factor EEF2 at a sole site, renders it unable to bind ribosomes and therefore inactive. In turn, the rate of protein synthesis is being reduced.

Endothelial cells express three different vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptors, belonging to the family of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). They are named VEGFR-1 (Flt-1), VEGFR-2 (KDR/Flk-1), VEGFR-3 (Flt-4). Their expression is almost exclusively restricted to endothelial cells, but VEGFR-1 can also be found on monocytes, dendritic cells and on trophoblast cells. The flt-1 gene was first described in 1990. The receptor contains seven immunoglobulin-like extracellular domains, a single transmembrane region and an intracellular splited tyrosine kinase domain. Compared to VEGFR-2 the Flt-1 receptor has a higher affinity for VEGF but a weaker signaling activity. VEGFR-1 thus leads not to proliferation of endothelial cells, but mediates signals for differentiation. Interestingly a naturally occuring soluble variant of VEGFR-1 (sVEGFR-1) was found in HUVE supernatants in 1996, which is generated by alternative splicing of the flt-1 mRNA. The biological functions of sVEGFR-1 still are not clear, but it seems to be an endogenous regulator of angiogenesis, binding VEGF with the same affinity as the full-length receptor.

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.

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.

Complement Factor D (Adipsin), which belongs to the trypsin family of peptidases, is involved in the alternative complement pathway of the complement system where it cleaves factor B. In the alternative complement pathway, Adipsin is best known for its role in humoral suppression of infectious agents. In addition, Adipsin is a serine protease which is secreted by adipocytes into the bloodstream. Ultimately, Adipsin has a high level of expression in fat, proposing a role for adipose tissue in immune system biology.

Midkine (MK) is the product of a retinoic acid responsive gene, MK, and is a member of a family of heparin binding factors. It contains 121 amino acid residues including 10 conserved cysteine residues, all of which appear to be disulphide linked.
Midkine is expressed during embryogenesis, showing an expression pattern that suggests functions in neurogenesis, cell migration, secondary organogenetic induction, and mesoderm-epithelial interaction.
The widespread downregulation of MK in the adult human is reverted in a number of cancers, in which polypeptides are able to act as both transforming growth factors and promoters of angiogenesis.
Midkine (MK), induces chemotaxis of human neutrophils and was found to trigger mobilization of intracellular calcium of these cells.
Midkine induces histamine release from rat peritoneal mast cells with a rapid response in a dose dependent manner.
Midkine is also a potent stimulator of collagen and glycosaminoglycan synthesis.

NUTF2 assists in protein transport into the nucleus and interacts with the nucleoporin p62 and with Ran. NUTF2 plays a role at a relatively late stage of nuclear protein import, subsequent to the initial docking of nuclear import ligand at the nuclear envelope. NUTF2 is part of a multicomponent system of cytosolic factors that come together at the pore complex during nuclear import.