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CNTF is a polypeptide hormone whose actions appear to be restricted to the nervous system where it promotes neurotransmitter synthesis and neurite outgrowth in certain neuronal populations. The protein is a potent survival factor for neurons and oligodendrocytes and may be relevant in reducing tissue destruction during inflammatory attacks. A mutation in this gene, which results in aberrant splicing, leads to ciliary neurotrophic factor deficiency, but this phenotype is not causally related to neurologic disease. In addition to the predominant monocistronic transcript originating from this locus, the gene is also co-transcribed with the upstream ZFP91 gene. Co-transcription from the two loci results in a transcript that contains a complete coding region for the zinc finger protein but lacks a complete coding region for ciliary neurotrophic factor.
CNTF is a survival factor for various neuronal cell types. Seems to prevent the degeneration of motor axons after axotomy.

Kallikrein-3 (KLK3) belongs to the kallikrein-related peptidase family. Kallikreins are a subgroup of serine proteases having various physiological functions. Numerous kallikreins are involved in carcinogenesis and some may be prospective cancer and other disease biomarkers. Kallikrein-3 is 1 of the 15 kallikrein subfamily members located in a cluster on chromosome 19 and is a protease present in seminal plasma. KLK3 hydrolyzes semenogelin-1 consequently leading to the liquefaction of the seminal coagulum. KLK3 is assumed to act normally in the liquefaction of seminal coagulum, probably by hydrolysis of the high molecular mass seminal vesicle protein. Serum level of the KLK3 protein, called PSA in the clinical setting, is beneficial in the diagnosis and monitoring of prostatic carcinoma.

Interleukin-1b is produced by activated macrophages, IL-1B stimulates thymocyte proliferation by inducing il-2 release, b-cell maturation and proliferation, and fibroblast growth factor activity. IL1B proteins are involved in the inflammatory response, being identified as endogenous pyrogens, and are reported to stimulate the release of prostaglandin from synovial cells.

MTHFD2 plays a role as a homodimer which requires magnesium and inorganic phosphate. MTHFD2 has a pseudogene on chromosome 7 and owns 3 different enzymatic activities. Each of the activities catalyzes 1 of 3 sequential reactions in the interconversion of 1-carbon derivatives of tetrahydrofolate, which are substrates for methionine, thymidylate, and de novo purine syntheses.

Isocitrate Dehydrogenase is an enzyme of the oxidoreductase class that catalyzes the conversion of isocitrate and NAD+ to yield 2-ketoglutarate, carbon dioxide, and NADH. It occurs in cell mitochondria. The enzyme requires Mg2+, Mn2+; it is activated by ADP, citrate, and Ca2+, and inhibited by NADH, NADPH, and ATP. The reaction is the key rate-limiting step of the citric acid (tricarboxylic) cycle.

CNDP Dipeptidase 2 (CNDP2), is a cytosolic, non-specific dipeptidase which is a part of the peptidase M20A protein family. CNDP2 is a secreted peptidase homologous to M20 peptidases. CNDP2 expresses through all adult and fetal tissue, though, an isoform missing exons 3 and 4 expresses in all fetal tissue in adult liver. Over expression of CPGL-B in hepatocellular carcinoma cells results in significant inhibition of HC cell viability, colony formation, cell invasiveness and tumor configuration.

CD96 is a type I membrane protein which is a part of the immunoglobulin superfamily. CD96 functions as cell markers in immune-phynotyping and participates in antigen presentation. CD96 plays a role in the adhesive interactions of activated T and NK cells through the late phase of the immune response.

Cyclophilin-E is a member of the peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase (PPIase) family. PPIases catalyze the cis-trans isomerization of proline imidic peptide bonds in oligopeptides and speeds up the protein folding. Cyclophilin-E contains a highly conserved cyclophilin domain in addition to a RNA-binding domain. Cyclophilin-E exhibits PPIase activity, protein folding activities and possess RNA-binding activity. Cyclophilin-E contains 2 RNA binding domains at the N-terminal region and a PPIase domain at the C-terminal region.

Cardiotrophin 1 (CT-1) is a 201 amino acid member of the interleukin-6 superfamily. It was identified by its ability to induce hypertrophic response in cardiac myocytes. CT-1 mRNA levels were found both in cardiac myocytes and in cardiac nonmyocytes. CT 1 was also detected in abundance in normal adult human lung and was expressed in both fetal and adult airway smooth muscle cells. CT 1 activates gp130 dependent signaling and stimulates the Janus kinase/signal transducers and activators of transcription (JAK/STAT) pathway to transduce hypertrophic and cytoprotective signals in cardiac myocytes.
CT 1 has also a neurotrophic function. CTF1 deficiency causes increased motoneuron cell death in spinal cord and brainstem nuclei of mice during a period between embryonic day 14 and the first postnatal week. Moreover, CT-1 is a hepatocyte survival factor that efficiently reduces hepatocellular damage in animal models of acute liver injury. Cardiotrophin 1 expression is augmented after hypoxic stimulation and it can protect cardiac cells when added either prior to simulated ischaemia or at the time of reoxygenation following simulated ischaemia. Cardiotrophin 1 can induce expression of the protective heat shock proteins (hsps) in cardiac cells.
Cardiotrophin-1 increased ventricular expression of ANP, brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and angiotensinogen mRNA.
Cardiophin 1 levels were significantly elevated in patients with heart failure, patients with dilatative cardiomyopathy, moderate/severe mitral regurgitation, stable and unstable angina and after acute myocardial infarction.

MDH2 catalyzes the reversible oxidation of malate to oxaloacetate, utilizing the NAD/NADH cofactor system in the citric acid cycle. MDH2 is localized to the mitochondria and takes part in the malate-aspartate shuttle that functions in the metabolic coordination between cytosol and mitochondria. MDH2 is highy expressed in the adrenal system, small intestine, heart and pancreas.

WW Domain Containing Transcription Regulator 1 (WWTR1) is a transcriptional coactivator that plays a role as a downstream regulatory target in the Hippo signaling pathway which participates in organ size control and tumor suppression by restricting proliferation and promoting apoptosis. WWTR1 regulates the nuclear accumulation of SMADS and has a main part in coupling them to the transcriptional machinery like the mediator complex. WWTR1 is also regulates embryonic stem-cell self-renewal.

Glucuronidase Beta (GUSB) is a lysosomal hydrolase which is taking part in the stepwise degradation of glucuronic acid-containing glycosaminoglycans and plays a significant role in the degradation of dermatan and keratin sulfates. GUSB is comprised of heparin sulfate, chondroitin sulfate and hyaluronan.

TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is a ligand molecule which induces apoptosis. It is a type II transmembrane protein with homology to other members of the tumor necrosis factor family.
In humans, the gene that encodes for TRAIL is located at chromosome 3q26.
TRAIL binds to the death receptors, DR4 and DR5. The process of apoptosis is caspase-8-dependent. This protein preferentially induces apoptosis in transformed and tumor cells, but does not appear to kill normal cells although it is expressed at a significant level in most normal tissues.

DARS uses a 2 step reaction to catalyze the specific attachment of an amino acid to its cognate tRNA: the amino acid (AA) is first activated by ATP to form AA-AMP and then transferred to the acceptor end of the tRNA.

GUK1 is part of the guanylate kinase family. GUK1 occurs as a monomer that catalyzes the ATP-dependent conversion of GMP to GDP, thus takes an important part in the recycling of GMP. Through its catalytic activity, GUK1 functions in regulation of the supply of guanine nucleotides to signal transduction pathways. GUK1 overexpression is related with pituitary adenocarcinomas, implicating that GUK1 is has a role in tumorigenesis.

This E2 enzyme encodes for the human homolog of the yeast DNA repair gene RAD6, which is induced by DNA damaging agents. UBE2B can conjugate ubiquitin to histone H2A in an E3- independent manner in vitro, and is essential for the multi-ubiquitination and degradation of N-end rule substrates. Additionally, UBE2B may have a role in sepsis-induced muscle protein proteolysis and cancer-induced cachexia.

PDCD4 is restricted to the nucleus in proliferating cells. Expression of PDCD4 is modulated by cytokines in natural killer and T cells. PDCD4 takes part in apoptosis. PDCD4 is a translation inhibitor targeted for degradation during tumor promotion. PDCD4 promotes colonic neoplastic transformation and tumor invasion. PDCD4 is an important target for microrna R-21 in breast cancer cells. Shortage of PDCD4 expression is associated with colorectal cancer. PDCD4 is swiftly phosphorylated by S6K1 kinase protein & afterwords degraded by ubiquitin ligase SCF in response to mitogens. PDCD4 in response to mitogens allows competent protein synthesis & cell growth. PDCD4 is a proapoptotic protein involved in TGF-beta1-induced apoptosis in human HCC cells, and a tumor suppressor in hepatocarcinogenesis. PDCD4 restraines tumor progression in colon carcinoma cells by the novel mechanism of down-regulating MAP4K1 transcription, with consequent inhibition of c-Jun activation and AP-1-dependent transcri

Impact RWD Domain Protein (IMPACT) is a member of the IMPACT family which is comprised of 1 RWD domain. IMPACT is a translational regulator which certifies constant high levels of translation under amino acid starvation. IMPACT interacts with GCN1/GCN1L1, thus preventing activation of GCN2 protein kinases (EIF2AK1 to 4) and subsequent down-regulation of protein synthesis. IMPACT is highly expressed especially in brain.

Killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs), are a family of cell surface glycoproteins found on Natural Killer (NK) Cells, which are important cells of the immune system. They control the killing function of these cells by interacting with MHC class I molecules, which are expressed on all cell types. This interaction allows them to identify virally infected cells or tumor cells that have a distinctive low level of Class I MHC on their surface. The majority of KIRs are inhibitory, which means that their recognition of MHC suppresses the cytotoxic activity of their NK cell. Only a limited number of KIRs have the capacity to activate cells.
The KIR genes are found in a cluster on chromosome 19q13.4 within the 1 Mb leukocyte receptor complex (LRC). KIR molecules are extremely polymorphic, meaning their gene sequences differ significantly between individuals, so that different individuals have different arrays/repertoires of KIR genes.
The KIR proteins are categorized by the number of extracellular immunoglobulin domains (2D or 3D) and by whether they have a long (L) or short (S) cytoplasmic domain. KIR proteins with the long cytoplasmic domain transduce inhibitory signals upon ligand binding via an immune tyrosine-based inhibitory motif (ITIM). Whereas KIR proteins with the short cytoplasmic domain lack the ITIM motif and instead associate with the TYRO protein tyrosine kinase binding protein to transduce activating signals.
KIR2DL1 is an inhibitory Killer Cell Ig-like Receptor (KIR, previously called p58 KIR, p58.1, cl-42, NKAT1, or KIR-K6), which recognizes class I MHC molecules (HLA-Cw2, -Cw4, -Cw5, and Cw6). The extracellular domain of KIR2DL1 was over expressed as insoluble protein aggregates (inclusion bodies).

ALDH1A1 is part of the aldehyde dehydrogenases family.
Aldehyde dehydrogenase is the 2nd protein of the main oxidative pathway of alcohol metabolism. Cytosolic and mitochondrial are 2 main liver isoforms of ALDH that are differentiateed by their electrophoretic mobility, kinetic property, & subcellular localization. The majority of Caucasians have two main isozymes, whereas just about 50% of Orientals have only the cytosolic form, excluding the mitochondrial form. ALDH1A1 is also a member of the group of corneal crystallins that assist the transparency of the cornea.
(Retinal + NAD+ + H2O = retinoate + NADH).

Glucokinase or GLK, is a protein, part of the bacterial glucokinase superfamily. In the bacteria E. coli, glucose can be transported to the inner cell through a system called PTS as glucose 6-phosphate, therefore, GLK is less crucial to the bacteria.

Hydroxyacid Oxidase 1 (HAO1) is a part of the superfamily of the alpha hydroxy acid oxidases (HAO) enzymes. HAO1 catalyses the FMN mediated oxidation of glycolate to glyoxylate and glyoxylate to oxalate by reducing oxygen to hydrogen peroxide. HAO1 is expressed mainly in the liver and pancreas and is most active on twocarbon substrates such as glycolate. HAO1 isthe main cause of hyperoxaluria, a disorder in which large deposits of calcium oxalate form kidney stones.

HBsAg is the surface antigenof the Hepatitis-B-Virus (HBV). The capsidof a virus has different surface proteins from the rest of the virus. The antigen is a protein that binds specifically on one of these surface proteins. It is commonly referred to as the Australian Antigen.

CCL23 (MIP-3) is a ligand for the CCR1chemokine receptor. CCL23 is one of several cytokine genes clustered on the q-arm of chromosome 17, in a locus containing several other CC chemokines. MIP-3 chemoattracts monocytes, resting T-lymphocytes and neutrophils, but not activated lymphocytes. Furthermore, it was shown that MIP-3 inhibits colony formation of bone marrow myeloid immature progenitors. MIP-3 is mainly expressed in lung and liver tissue, but can be also found in bone marrow and placenta, as well as in some cell lines of myeloid origin.
Alternative splicing of the CCL23 gene produces 2 mRNAs which encode a short (CK?8) and a long (CK?81) isoform of the MIP-3. CK?8 cDNA encodes a 120 amino acid residue precursor protein with a putative 21 a.a. residue signal peptide which is cleaved to generate a 99 a.a. residue mature CK?8 (a.a. 22-120). Further N-terminal processing of the 99 a.a. residue variant can produce a 75 a.a. residue CK?8 (a.a. 46-120) which is considerably more active than the 99 a.a. residue variant.
MIP-3 may be involved in the malignant progression of certain human cancer cells which overexpress ErbB2 through the transactivation of ErbB2 tyrosine kinase. MIP-3 may also be involved in angiogenesis via upregulation of matrix metalloproteinase MMP-2 expression.