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Prolactin is a neuroendocrine hormone synthesized primarily by the pituitary gland but also a variety of other cell types including the placenta, brain and uterus. Prolactin is secreted when eating, nursing, mating, estrogen treatment and during ovulation. Prolactin's primary role is to promote and maintain lactation but also plays a role in breast cancer development, regulation of reproductive function and immunoregulation.

Type 1 cystatins are also called stefins which function as intracellular thiol protease inhibitors. Cystatin-B protein is able to form a dimer stabilized by noncovalent forces, inhibiting papain and cathepsins l, h and b. CSTB protein protects proteases leakage from lysosomes. Mutations in Stefin-B gene cause primary defects in patients with progressive myoclonic epilepsy (EPM1), a degenerative disease of the central nervous system. CSTB is overexpressed & elevated in the serum of HCC patients. Cystatin-B in vivo has a polymeric structure which is sensitive to the redox environment. Cystatin-B inhibits bone resorption by down-regulating intracellular cathepsin K activity despite increased osteoclast survival. Protein and mRNA levels of stefin B are significantly lower in atypical benign meningiomas. Stefins-A & Stefin-B which belong to the type-1 Cystatins, are up-regulated in lung tumours and thus able to counteract harmful tumour-associated proteolytic activity. Human stefin-A & Stef

KRT20 is a member of the keratin family. The keratins are intermediate filament proteins responsible for the structural integrity of epithelial cells and are subdivided into cytokeratins and hair keratins. The type I cytokeratins consist of acidic proteins which are arranged in pairs of heterotypic keratin chains. This cytokeratin is a major cellular protein of mature enterocytes and goblet cells and is specifically expressed in the gastric and intestinal mucosa. The type I cytokeratin genes are clustered in a region of chromosome 17q12-q21.

GSTT2 belongs to the glutathione s-transferase (GST) family of proteins. There are eight GST proteins families, named alpha, kappa, mu, omega, pi, sigma, theta and zeta. Each one of the GST families has several proteins with different functions throughout the cell. The theta type members GSTT1 and GSTT2 have a 55% aa sequence homology and hold a vital role in human carcinogenesis. The theta genes are structurally similar – each has five exons with identical exon/intron boundaries.

Yersinia enterocolitica is a Gram-negative bacillus-shaped bacterium, which is a member of the Enterobacteriaceae family. Y.Enterocolitica is motile at temperatures between 22-29°C, however becomes non-motile at normal human body temperature. Y. Enterocolitica infection causes the yersiniosis disease, which is an animal-borne disease occurring in humans, as well as in a various groups of animals such as cattle, deer, pigs, and birds. Yersinia enterocolitica is a heterogeneous group of strains, which are conventionally classified by bio-typing into six bio-groups on the basis of phenotypic characteristics, and by serotyping into more than 57 “O” serogroups, on the basis of their O (lipopolysaccharide or LPS) surface antigen. Five of the six biogroups (1B and 2–5) are considered as pathogens. Nevertheless, only a few of these serogroups have been linked with disease in either humans or animals. Strains which belong to serogroups O:3 (biogroup 4), O:5,27 (biogroups 2 and 3), O:8 (biogroup 1B), and O:9 (biogroup 2) are most frequently isolated worldwide from human samples. Still, the main Y. enterocolitica serogroup in many European countries is serogroup O:3 followed by O:9, whereas the serogroup O:8 is mostly detected in the United States.

MECR catalyzes the reduction of trans-2-enoyl-CoA to acyl-CoA with chain length from C6 to C16 in an NADPH dependent manner with preference to medium chain length substrate. MECR protein takes part in the mitochondrial synthesis of fatty acids.

MGAT2 is an enzyme which takes part in the catalyzation of a crucial step in the reaction of oligomannose which converts to complex N-glycans. MGAT2 has three domains, classic to glycosyltransferase: short N-terminal cytoplasmic domain, a C-terminal catalytic domain and hydrophobic non-cleavable signal-anchor domain. The enzyme MGAT2 is encoded by the MGAT2 gene in humans. There are no introns in the DNA coding the gene, therefore mutations in the MGAT2 will result in carbohydrate-deficient glycoprotein syndrome, type II.

BLVRB (EC 1.3.1.24) catalyzes electron transfer from reduced pyridine nucleotides to flavins as well as methylene blue, pyrroloquinoline quinone, riboflavin, or methemoglobin. BLVRB is involved in protecting cells from oxidative damage or in regulating iron metabolism. BLVRB converts biliverdin to bilirubin in the liver, converting a double-bond between the second and third pyrrole ring into a single-bond. BLVRB plays a role as in human erythrocytic heme catabolic pathway and most mammalian species. Biliverdin reductase is abundantly expressed in kidney, spleen, liver and brain as well as at lower levels in the thymus and minimal levels being detected in testis.

Galectin-16 (LGALS16) binds lactose with high affinity. LGALS16 is a strong inducer of T-cell apoptosis.

Interleukin 10 or IL-10 or human cytokine synthesis inhibitory factor, is a cytokine (anti-inflammatory). IL10 gene is coding for il-10 In humans. Interleukin 10 has a receptor complex that is built from a couple of IL-10 receptor-1 and a couple of IL-10 receptor-2 proteins. therfore, the whole receptor unit consists of four IL-10 receptor molecules. IL-10 binds the receptor and causes STAT3 signalling through the phosphorylation of the cytoplasmic ends of IL-10 receptor 1 and IL-10 receptor 2 through JAK1 and Tyk2.

LYVE1 is a selective marker of the lymphatic endothelium & a surface endocytic receptor for both soluble and immobilized hyaluronan, LYVE1 is an extracellular glycosaminoglycan that plays a role in cell adhesion and migration. LYVE1 functions in lympathic hyaluronan transport and is involved in tumor metastasis. Recombinant human LYVE1 was expressed in and purified by conventional chromatography techniques. The normal adult human choroid is endowed with a significant number of LYVE-1 positive macrophages. LYVE-1 is expressed in a reticulum cell neoplasm in an axillary lymph node. This reticulum cell sarcoma is a lymphatic sinus lining cell sarcoma which might represent another subtype of reticulum cell sarcomas.
LYVE-1 immunohistochemistry is a functional method for detecting lymphatics invaded by cancer cells, and detailed examination of the submucosa around the tumor is important for predicting LN metastasis.

Cystatins are a superfamily of cysteine proteinase inhibitors found in both plants and animals. They comprise a group of proteinase inhibitors, widely distributed in tissues and body fluids, and form tight complexes with cysteine proteases such as cathepsin B, H, L and S. Cystatin C, a secreted molecule of this family, is of interest from biochemical, medicine and evolutionary points of view. Cystatin C, with molecular weight of 13260 Da, is composed of 120 amino acids, lacks carbohydrate and has two disulfide bridges located near the carboxyl terminus. Cystatin C is increased in patients with malignant diseases, and is related to the insufficiency of renal function and appears to be a better marker than creatinine. On the other hand, low levels of cystatin C involve cause the breakdown of the elastic laminae and, subsequently, the atherosclerosis and abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Major pollen allergen Aln g 1 (Aln G 1.0101) causes an allergic reaction in humans.

Placental Lactogen is a polypeptide hormone that is produced by the Syncytiotrophoblasts of the Placenta, also known as chorionic somatomammotropin. It has both GH and Prolactin activities on growth, lactation, and luteal steroid production. In women, placental lactogen secretion begins soon after implantation and increases to 1 g or more a day in late pregnancy. Placental lactogen is also an ins. antagonist.
Placental Lactogen Bovine is also capable of activating human and other heterologous GH receptors but not ruminat GH receptors.

Human Oxytocin stimulates uterine smooth muscle contractions indirectly and stimulates the mammary glands to increase lactation without increasing the production of milk.

Intein is a section of a protein which can remove itself and return the remaining segment with a peptide bond. In addition, Inteins hold an endonuclease domain which takes part in Intein proliferation. Actually, various genes have unrelated intein-coding segments inserted at altered positions and they were found in all three domains of life (eukaryotes, bacteria, and archaea) and in viruses.

West Nile virus (WNV) is a virus of the family Flaviviridae part of the Japanese encephalitis (JE) antigenic complex of viruses. Image reconstructions and cryoelectron microscopyreveal a 45-50 nm virion covered with a relatively smooth proteinsurface. This structure is similar to virus; both belong to the genus flavivirus within the family Flaviviridae. WNV is a positive-sense, single strand of RNA, it is between 11,000 and 12,000 nucleotides long which encode seven non-structural proteins and three structural proteins. The RNA strand is held within a nucleocapsid formed from 12 kDaprotein blocks; the capsid is contained within a host-derived membrane altered by two viral glycoproteins.

Activins are homodimers or heterodimers of the different ? subunit isoforms, part of the TGF? family. Mature Activin A has two 116 amino acids residues betaA subunits (bA-bA). Activin displays an extensive variety of biological activities, including mesoderm induction, neural cell differentiation, bone remodelling, haematopoiesis, and reproductive physiology. Activins takes part in the production and regulation of hormones such as FSH, LH, GnRH and ACTH. Cells that are identified to express Activin A include fibroblasts, endothelial cells, hepatocytes, vascular smooth muscle cells, macrophages, keratinocytes, osteoclasts, bone marrow monocytes, prostatic epithelium, neurons, chondrocytes, osteoblasts, Leydig cells, Sertoli cells, and ovarian granulosa cells.

MAP2K1 is a member of the dual specificity protein kinase family, which plays a role as a mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase kinase. MAP kinases, are recognized as extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs), that act as an integration position for multiple biochemical signals. MEK1 is located upstream of MAP kinases and stimulates the enzymatic activity of MAP kinases upon wide variety of extra- and intracellular signals. As a key player of MAP kinase signal transduction pathway, MEK1 is involved in many cellular processes such as proliferation, differentiation, transcription regulation and development. MAP2K1 catalyzes the concomitant phosphorylation of a threonine and a tyrosine residue in a thr-glu-tyr sequence located in map kinases. MEK1 activates erk1 and erk2 map kinases.

DDT is an enzyme that catayzes the tautomerization of D-dopachrome to give 5,6-dihydroxyindole (DHI). DDT is part of the family of lyases, specifically the carboxy-lyases, which cleave carbon-carbon bonds. DDT shares a homologous amino acid sequence (33% identical) with MIF and has similar tautomerase activity. DDT functions a proinflammatory cytokine.

GDF15 is part of the TGF-Beta superfamily that 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.

Dysbindin domain-containing protein 2 (DBNDD2) is a member of the dysbindin family. DBNDD2 regulates the activity of casein kinase-1 and inhibits CSNK1D autophosphorylation (in vitro). DBNDD2 also interacts with CSNK1D and CSNK1E. DBNDD2 is detected in brain.