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DCTN2 is a 50kDa subunit of dynactin, which is a macromolecular complex consisting of 10-11 subunits ranging in size from 22 to 150 kDa. Dynactin binds to both microtubules and cytoplasmic dynein. Dynactin is involved in a various cellular functions, including ER-to-Golgi transport, the centripetal movement of lysosomes and endosomes, spindle formation, chromosome movement, nuclear positioning, and axonogenesis. The DCTN2 subunit is present in 4-5 copies per dynactin molecule. DCTN2 is comprised of 3 short alpha-helical coiled-coil domains which mediate association with self or other dynactin subunits. DCTN2 interacts directly with the largest subunit (p150) of dynactin and is able to affix p150 in place. DCTN2 modulates cytoplasmic dynein binding to an organelle, and plays a part in prometaphase chromosome alignment and spindle organization during mitosis. DCTN2 is involved in anchoring microtubules to centrosomes. DCTN2 has a role in synapse formation during brain development.

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-1a/CXCL12a and SDF-1b/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.

Cytotoxicity Triggering Receptor 3 also known as NCR3 is a natural cytotoxicity receptor (NCR) which assists NK cells in the lysis of tumor cells. Moreover, NCR3 interacts with CD3-zeta (CD247), a T-cell receptor. A single nucleotide polymorphism in the 5' untranslated region of NCR3 has been related with mild malaria suceptibility. Three transcript variants encoding various isoforms have been found for this gene.

DPP4 also called adenosine deaminase complexing protein-2, and T-cell activation antigen CD26 is a serine exopeptidase and complex enzyme that is expressed on the surface of most cell types. DPPIV is an intrinsic membrane glycoprotein and a serine exopeptidase that cleaves X-proline dipeptides from the N-terminus of polypeptides. DPP4 plays a role in t-cell activation. DPP4 is associated with intracellular signal transduction, apoptosis and involved in tumor biology. There are at least 63 substrates which can bind specifically to DPP4 enzyme including growth factors, chemokines, neuro peptides. Furthermore, DPP4 plays a major role in glucose metabolism by cleaving incretins such as glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and GLP-1.

Actin depolymerizing factor (Destrin/DSTN) belongs to the ADF/Cofilin/destrin superfamily which has the ability to swiftly depolymerize F-Actin in a stoichiometric mode. The ADF family of proteins is responsible for enhancing the turnover rate of actin in vivo. Destrin is a small phosphoinositide-sensitive actin-binding protein capable of depolymerizing actin-filaments in vitro. DSTN functions in a pH-independent manner. DSTN is found in a variety of epithelial and endothelial cells, however it is virtually nonexistent in adult mouse heart and skeletal muscle cells. Destrin shares a 71% sequence homology with Cofilin, however the 2 proteins vary in their interaction with Actin.

Thermosensitive Gluconokinase, also known as IDNK is a 187 a.a protein which is a member of the gluconokinase gntK/gntV family. IDNK catalyzes theconversion of ATP and D-gluconate to ADP and 6-phospho-D-gluconate. In addition, IDNK is considered to take part in gender determination, deletion of the distal portion of 9p is able to lead to a development of male to female sex reversal, the phenotype of a female with a male X, Y genotype.

a-Synuclein (amino acids 1-140), an acidic neuronal protein of 140 amino acids, is extremely heat-resistant and is natively unfolded with an extended structure primarily composed of random coils. a-synuclein has been suggested to be implicated in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease and related neurodegenerative disorders, and more recently, to be an important regulatory component of vesicular transport in neuronal cells. Moreover, recent studies have shown that a-synuclein has chaperone activity and that this activity is lost upon removing its C-terminal acidic tail (amino acids 96-140).

a-Synuclein (amino acids 1-140), an acidic neuronal protein of 140 amino acids, is extremely heat-resistant and is natively unfolded with an extended structure primarily composed of random coils. a-synuclein has been suggested to be implicated in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease and related neurodegenerative disorders, and more recently, to be an important regulatory component of vesicular transport in neuronal cells. Moreover, recent studies have shown that a-synuclein has chaperone activity and that this activity is lost upon removing its C-terminal acidic tail (amino acids 96-140).

Ubiquitin-like-conjugating enzyme ATG10 (ATG10) is a 220 amino acid protein which localizes to the cytoplasm and has a role in autophagy, specifically acting as an E2-like enzyme providing Atg recognition sites during autophagosome synthesis. ATG10 functions as an E2-like enzyme which catalyzes the conjugation of ATG12 to ATG5, which is required for autophagy. In addition, ATG10 interacts with ATG12 in human embryonic kidney cells in the presence of ATG7. ATG10 probably serves as an ATG5-recognition molecule. Furthermore, ATG10 has a role in adenovirus-mediated cell lysis.

IFN-gamma produced by lymphocytes activated by specific antigens or mitogens.
IFN-gamma, in addition to having antiviral activity, has important immunoregulatory functions, it is a potent activator of macrophages, and has antiproliferative effects on transformed cells and it can potentiate the antiviral and antitumor effects of the type I interferons.

BAG1 binds to BCL2 and is also called BCL2-associated athanogene. BAG1 increases the anti-apoptotic effects of BCL2 and is characterizes as a link between growth factor receptors and anti-apoptotic mechanisms. BAG1 inhibits the chaperone activity of HSP70/HSC70 by promoting substrate release. BAG1 inhibits the pro-apoptotic function of PPP1R15A, and has anti-apoptotic activity. BAG1 enhances the anti-cell death function of BCL2 induced by various stimuli.

EMAP-II also called SCYE1 is a tumor derived cytokine that plays a role in a wide variety of activities on endothelial cells, monocytes and neutrophils. EMAP-II inhibits endothelial cell proliferation, vasculogenesis, neovessel formation, and can induce apoptosis. It is also chemotactic towards neutrophils and monocytes and induces myeloperoxidase activity from neutrophils. EMAP-II clinical value is inhibiting angiogenesis of vascular beds and suppressing the growth of primary and secondary tumors with no affect to normal tissues. SCYE1is specifically induced by apoptosis, and it is involved in the control of angiogenesis, inflammation, and wound healing. The release of this SCYE1 renders the tumor-associated vasculature sensitive to tumor necrosis factor. The precursor protein is identical to the p43 subunit, which is associated with the multi-tRNA synthetase complex, and it modulates aminoacylation activity of tRNA synthetase in normal cells. EMAP-2 plays a role in in the stimulation of inflammatory responses after proteolytic cleavage in tumor cells.

NUDT5 is part of the nudix hydrolase family which remove toxic nucleotide derivatives from the cell. NUDT5 hydrolyzes ADP-ribose and ADP-mannose in the presence of magnesium, and in addition hydrolyzes nucleotide sugars with decreasing activity such as ADP-glucose and diadenosine diphosphate. As a nudix hydrolase, NUDT5 holds a central nudix motif and functions to eliminate toxic nucleotide metabolites from the cell while maintaining the levels of signaling nucleotides.
NUDT5 is broadly expressed but is most abundant in liver as a homodimer.

Eotaxin-2, also called MPIF2 & Ckb6, is a novel CC chemokine produced by activated monocytes and T lymphocytes. Eotaxin-2 selectively chemoattracts cells expressing CCR3 including eosinophils, basophils, Th2 T cells, mast cells, and certain subsets of dendritic cells. Furthermore, Eotaxin-2 inhibits the proliferation of multipotential hematopoietic progenitor cells. The mature protein, which includes C-terminal truncation, contains 78 amino acids (92 amino acids for the mouse homolog, without C-terminal truncation).
CCL24 functions as a chemotactic chemokine for resting t-lymphocytes, and eosinophils. CCL24 has lower chemotactic activity for neutrophils but none for monocytes and activated lymphocytes. CCL24 is a strong suppressor of colony formation by a multipotential hematopoietic progenitor cell line and binds to CCR3.

Chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 11 (CCL11) is a small cytokine belonging to the CC chemokine family that is also known as eotaxin. CCL11 selectively recruits eosinophils by inducing their chemotaxis, and therefore, is implicated in allergic responses. The effects of CCL11 are mediated by its binding to a G-protein-linked receptor known as a chemokine receptor. Chemokine receptors for which CCL11 is a ligand include CCR2, CCR3 and CCR5. The gene for human CCL11 (scya11) is encoded on three exons and is located on chromosome 17.

V-Ets Avian Erythroblastosis Virus E26 Oncogene 2 (ETS2) is a transcription factor that regulates genes involved in development and apoptosis. ETS2 is also a protooncogene which takes part in regulation of telomerase. ETS2 protein’s pseudogene is located on the X chromosome.

PDAP1, increases PDGFA-stimulated cell growth in fibroblasts, however inhibits the mitogenic effect of PDGFB. PDAP1 expression is induced by TNF-alpha, and cells overexpressing PDAP1 show significantly less apoptosis on exposure to TNF-alpha.

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.

G6PD is the rate-limiting enzyme of the pentose phosphate pathway, a metabolic pathway that supplies reducing energy to cells by maintaining the level of NADPH. G6PD converts glucose-6-phosphate into 6-phosphoglucono-?-lactone and at the same time produces NADPH. The NADPH maintains the level of glutathione in these cells that helps protect the red blood cells against oxidative damage. G6PD deficiency causes acute hemolytic anemia, neonatal jaundice or acute hemolysis. G6PD is a cytosolic enzyme encoded by an X-linked gene whose main function is to produce NADPH, a crucial electron donor in the defense against oxidizing agents and in reductive biosynthetic reactions. G6PD produces pentose sugars for nucleic acid synthesis and is a main producer of NADPH reducing power.

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.

KLRC3 belongs to the NKG2 group that can be found mostly in natural killer (NK) cells and encodes a family of transmembrane proteins known for their C-type lectin domain and their type II membrane orientation (extracellular C terminus). The NKG2 gene family is situated inside the NK complex, a region which has quite a few C-type lectin genes mostly expressed on NK cells.

Killer Cell lectin-Like Receptor Subfamily K, Member 1 (KLRK1) is an activating receptor which has recently generated considerable interest. The most fascinating of these, are a couple of closely related proteins known as MICA and MICB. These are cell-surface molecules distantly related to MHC class I proteins, and their genes have elements of heat shock promoters. Thus, MICA and MICB are expressed in the course of cell stress and are up-regulated in tumor cells and during viral infections. This receptor-ligand combination has a crucial role in the immune response to various pathologies.

T-cell antigen CD7 (CD7) is a type I transmembrane glycoprotein which is expressed on pluripotential hemapoietic cells, nearly all human thymocytes and some peripheral blood T cells. The CD7 molecule is missing in a subset of human T cells under some physiologic conditions. An increase in CD7 negative T cells can be observed in a number of inflammatory skin diseases.

CDC26 is a member of the CDC26 family which arranges progression via mitosis by enhancing cell-cycle regulators with ubiquitin chains. CDC26 is a component of the anaphase promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C), which is a cell cycle-regulated E3 ubiquitin ligase which directs progression through mitosis and the G1 phase of the cell cycle. The APC/C complex operates by mediating ubiquitination and subsequent degradation of target proteins.