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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.

CMC4 is a downstream 8kDa protein restricts to mitochondria which was identified by participation in some t(X;14) translocations related with mature T-cell proliferations. This region has a compound gene structure, with a common promoter and 5’ exon spliced to two different groups of 3’ exons which encode 2 separate proteins.

VAPB Vesicle-associated membrane protein (VAMP)-associated protein B (aka VAPB) is a type IV transmembrane protein and belongs to the VAP family of proteins. VAPB may have a role in vesicle trafficking. VAPB is found in plasma and intracellular vesicle membranes as a homodimer and heterodimer with VAPA, and interacts with VAMP1 and VAMP2. VAPB defects are the basis for the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis type 8 and spinal muscular atrophy autosomal dominant Finkel type.

MANF is a 20kDa protein which belongs to the ARMET family. MANF was originally known as an arginine-rich region protein which was extremely mutated in a large number of tumors. MANF Expression is induced during ER stress, signifying that MANF takes part in protein quality control during ER stress.

COP9 Signalosome Subunit 7A (COPS7A) is a component of the COP9 signalosome complex (CSN), a complex involved in a variety of cellular and developmental processes. The CSN complex is a vital regulator of the ubiquitin (Ubl) conjugation pathway by mediating the deneddylation of the cullin subunits of SCF-type E3 ligase complexes, thus leading to decrease in the Ubl ligase activity of SCF-type complexes such as SCF, CSA or DDB2. This complex is also involved in phosphorylation of p53/TP53, JUN, I-kappa-B-alpha/NFKBIA, ITPK1 and IRF8/ICSBP, probably through its association with CK2 and PKD kinases. CSN-dependent phosphorylation of TP53 and JUN stimulates and protects degradation by the Ubl system, respectively.

RAC1 is a GTPase which belongs to the RAS superfamily of small GTP-binding proteins. Members of this superfamily appear to regulate a diverse array of cellular events, including the control of cell growth, cytoskeletal reorganization, and the activation of protein kinases. RAC-1 regulates the actin cytoskeleton but also other cellular processes. RAC1 have been shown to be involved in the regulation of cell-cell adhesion.

Chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 (CCL2) is a small cytokine belonging to the CC chemokine family that is also known as monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1). It is found at the site of tooth eruption and bone degradation. In the bone, CCL2 is expressed by mature osteoclasts and osteoblasts and is under the control of nuclear factor ?B (NF?B). CCL2 recruits immune cells, such as monocytes, to sites of tissue injury and infection. This chemokine is produced as a protein precursor containing signal peptide of 23 amino acids and a mature peptide of 76 amino acids. It is a monomeric polypeptide, with a molecular weight of approximately 13kDa. As with many other CC chemokines, CCL2 is located on chromosome 17 in humans. The cell surface receptors that bind CCL2 are CCR2 and CCR5.

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.

RCAN1 encoded by a gene located in the human chromosome 21, interacts with calcineurin A and inhibits calcineurin-dependent signaling pathways, possibly affecting central nervous system development. RCAN1 is located in the minimal candidate region for the Down syndrome phenotype, and is over expressed in the brain of Down syndrome fetuses. Chronic over expression of this gene may lead to neurofibrillary tangles such as those associated with Alzheimer disease. Three transcript variants encoding three different isoforms have been found for this gene.
DSCR1 Inhibits calcineurin-dependent transcriptional responses by binding to the catalytic domain of calcineurin A, possibly affecting central nervous system development.

RGS19 is a member of RGS (regulator of G protein signaling) family and negatively regulates G protein coupled receptor signaling. RGS19 protein specifically cooperates with heterotrimeric GTP-binding protein G alpha i3 (GAI3).

SDF-1 (stromal cell-derived factor-1) is small cytokine belonging to the chemokine family that is officially designated Chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 12 (CXCL12). It is produced in two forms, SDF-1?/CXCL12a and SDF-1?/CXCL12b, by alternate splicing of the same gene. Chemokines are characterized by the presence of four conserved cysteines, which form two disulfide bonds. The CXCL12 proteins belong to the group of CXC chemokines, whose initial pair of cysteines are separated by one intervening amino acid. CXCL12 is strongly chemotactic for lymphocytes and has been implicated as an important cell co-ordinator during development. During embryogenesis it directs the migration of hematopoietic cells from foetal liver to bone marrow. Mice which were knocked-out for CXCL12 gene were lethal before the birth or within just 1 hour of life. As another role, CXCL12a alters also the electrophysiology of neurons. CXCL12 was shown to be expressend in many tissues in mice (including brain, thymus, heart, lung, liver, kidney, spleen and bone marrow).
The receptor for this chemokine is CXCR4, which was previously called fusin. This CXCL12-CXCR4 interaction used to be considered exclusive (unlike for other chemokines and their receptors), but recently it was suggested that CXCL12 is also bound by CXCR7 receptor.
The gene for CXCL12 is located on human chromosome 10. In human and mouse both CXCL12 and CXCR4 show high identity of sequence: 99% and 90%, respectively.

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.

CRYGC is a member of the beta/gamma-crystallin family. Mammalian lens crystallins are distributed into alpha, beta, and gamma families; beta and gamma crystallins are also considered as a superfamily. Gamma-crystallins are a homogeneous group of extremely symmetrical, monomeric proteins usually missing connecting peptides and terminal extensions and are differentially regulated after early development. Three pseudogenes (gamma-E,F,G) and four gamma-crystallin genes (gamma-A,B,C,D) are structured in a genomic sector as a gene cluster. Gamma-crystallins are involved in cataract formation as a result of aging or mutations in specific genes. Mutations in CRYGC result in cataract Coppock-like (CCL) and cataract autosomal dominant (ADC).

Cytokeratin 16, also known as KRT16, is a member of the keratin gene family. KRT16 which acts as a regulator of innate immunity in response to skin barrier breach is required for some inflammatory checkpoint for the skin barrier maintenance. KRT16 is coexpressed with keratin 14 in a few epithelial tissues as esophagus, tongue, and hair follicles.

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.

Ribosomal Protein S6 Kinase Beta-1 Isoform A or RPS6KB1 is type of serine/threonine kinas. The protein effects on the PIP3 and phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1 as part of the PI3 kinase pathway. Protein synthesis is induced by Phosphorylation of S6 in the ribosome. It was shown that phosphorylation of p70S6K at threonine 389 acts as mTOR activation indication and corresponded along with the inhibition of autophagy in different cases, nonetheless new studies has shown that the p70S6K activity has a constructive and increasing affect of autophagy.

Activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein (ARC) takes part in the regulation of cell morphology and cytoskeletal organization and is required for consolidation of synaptic plasticity as well as formation of long-term memory. ARC regulates endocytosis of AMPA receptors in response to synaptic activity and is also required for homeostatic synaptic scaling of AMPA receptors. ARC is required in the stress fiber dynamics and cell migration.

EDN3 interacts with endothelin receptor B, on the surface of cells. Throughout embryonic development, EDN3 takes part in neural crest cells that migrate from the developing spinal cord to specific regions in the embryo, where they give rise to many different types of cells. EDN3 and EDN3R are necessary for the formation of nerves in the large intestine (enteric nerves) and melanocytes (produce melanin). Mutations in the EDN3 gene is linked with Waardenburg syndrome, type IV that is characterized by changes in skin, hair, and eye coloring. Mutations in the EDN3 gene is linked with Hirschsprung disease that causes severe constipation or intestinal blockage

Testican-3 (Spock3) is a nervous system-expressed heparan sulfate proteoglycan belonging to a subgroup of the BM-40/SPARC/osteonectin family, whose role of in brain development is unclear. Spock3 inhibits the processing of pro-matrix metalloproteinase 2(MMP-2) by MT1-MMP and MT3-MMP. Spock3 is mostly confined to the developmental stage of the brain.

Biglycan (BGN) is a small cellular or pericellular matrix proteoglycan which takes part in assembly of collagen fibrils and muscle regeneration. BGN is closely correlated in structure to two other small proteoglycans, decorin and fibromodulin. BGN interacts with several proteins involved in muscular dystrophy, including alpha-dystroglycan, alpha- and gamma-sarcoglycan and collagen VI. BGN is also critical for the assembly of the dystrophin-associated protein complex.

Chromosome 7 Open Reading Frame 49 (C7ORF49) is affiliated with the lncRNA class. C7ORF49 characterizes the hamster ortholog and suggests that it may modulate the ability of the proteasome to degrade retroviral cores upon cellular infection.

Platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule (PECAM1) induces susceptibility to atherosclerosis. PECAM1 averts phagocyte ingestion of closely apposed viable cells by transmitting detachment signals, and transforms function upon apoptosis, thus promoting tethering of dying cells to phagocytes. The encounter of a viable cell with a phagocyte via the homophilic interaction of PECAM1 on both cell surfaces as a result causing the viable cell's active repulsion from the phagocyte.

Killer Cell Immunoglobulin-Like Receptor, 3 Domains Long Cytoplasmic Tail 2 (KIR3DL2) is a type 1 transmembrane protein of the p70 family of killer cell Ig-like receptors. KIR3DL2 is a receptor on NK cells for HLA-A alleles which Inhibits their activity consequently preventing cell lysis.

Lamin-A is a major component of the nuclear lamina, a dynamic meshwork located just under the nuclear envelope and it is encoded by lamin A/C gene (LMNA).
Lamin-A is synthesized as Prelamin A, a longer precursor that in vivo goes through a serial post-translational modifications that lead to mature Lamin A.
Diverse mutations in the Lamin A/C gene are associated with different diseases that are collectively called laminophaties, including Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy, familiar partial lipodystrophy, limb girdle muscular dystrophy, dilated cardiomyopathy, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, and Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome.