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Melanoma Antigen Family A 8, also known as MAGEA8 belongs to the MAGE gene family, which includes twelve known genes, of which six are expressed in tumors. Furthermore, the MAGE genes were at first isolated from different kinds of tumors, and according to their virtually exclusive tumor-specific expression in adult tissues, they have been used as targets for cancer immunotherapy.

Myozenin 1 (MYOZ1) is a member of the myozenin family. MYOZ1 is mostly expressed in the skeletal muscle. Members of the myozenin family act as calcineurin-interacting proteins which helps tether calcineurin to the sarcomere of cardiac and skeletal muscle. The myozenin family plays a significant role in modulation of calcineurin signaling.

Bone Morphogenetic Protein 3 (BMP3) is one of the BMPs, some of which are members of the TGF-beta superfamily (BMP2-7). There are more than 13 BMPs, which are involved in inducing cartilage and bone formation, embryogenesis and morphogenesis of various tissues and organs. In addition, BMPs regulate the growth, differentiation, chemotaxis, and apoptosis of various cell types. Akin to most other TGF-beta family proteins, BMPs are extremely conserved across animal species. At the amino acid sequence level, mature human and rat BMP3 are 98% identical.

TES also called Testin is a tumor suppressor protein which is involved in cell adhesion, cell spreading and in the restructuring of the actin cytoskeleton. TES protein localizes to cell-cell contacts and actin stress fibres, and interacts with a diversity of cytoskeletal proteins such as Zyxin, Mena, VASP, Talin and Actin. The ability of TES to associate with alpha-actinin, paxillin and Zyxin is dependent on the conformational form of the protein.

GCSF is a cytokine that controls the production, differentiation, and function of granulocytes. The active protein is found extracellularly. Three transcript variants encoding three different isoforms have been found for this gene. Granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factors are cytokines that act in hematopoiesis by controlling the production, differentiation, and function of 2 related white cell populations of the blood, the granulocytes and the monocytes-macrophages. This csf induces granulocytes.

Homeobox C11 (HOXC11) is a member of the Abd-B homeobox family. The homeobox genes encode well conservedfamily of transcription factors that play a vital role in morphogenesis in all multicellular organisms. HOXC11is one of numerous homeobox HOXC genes placed in a cluster on chromosome 12. HOXC11 attaches to a promoterelement of the lactase-phlorizin hydrolase. HOXC11 also takes part in early intestinal development. An alternativelyspliced variant encoding a shorter isoform has been defined however, its full-length nature has not been determined.

NSL1 holds two coiled-coil domains.NSL1 proteins, localized to kinetochores - chromosome associated structures which attach to microtubules and mediate chromosome movements throughout cell division. NSL1 is a fragment of a conserved protein complex that hold two chromodomain-containing proteins and a component of the outer plate of the kinetochore. NSL1 connect centromeric heterochromatin with the outer kinetochore structure. Several transcript variants are known to encod different isoforms for this gene.

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.

Tumor Suppressor Candidate 2, also known as TUSC2, is a part of the TUSC2 family. TUSC2 protein functions as a tumor suppressor, inhibiting colony formation, causing G1 arrest and eventually inducing apoptosis in homozygous 3p21.3 120-kb region-deficient cells.

Osteopontin is a glycoprotein that was first identified in osteoblasts and is involved in bone remodeling, immune functions in fibroblasts, macrophages, and lymphocytes during inflammation and wound healing. SPP1 binds tightly to hydroxyapatite. SPP1 forms an integral part of the mineralized matrix. SPP1 is vital to cell-matrix interaction. Secreted Phosphoprotein-1 protects against cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury via late preconditioning. Expression of both Ostepontin and CD44 in hepatocellular carcinoma is linked with advanced tumor stage and contributes to prognosis information. SPP1 is the most over-expressed gene in intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. Secreted Phosphoprotein-1 overexpression is related with interstitial lung diseases.

Myxovirus Resistance 1, also known as MX1 is a guanosine triphosphate (GTP)-metabolizing protein which takes part in the cellular antiviral response. MX1 is induced by type I and type II IFN, and also antagonizes the replication process of some different RNA & DNA viruses. In addition, there is a related gene located adjacent to MX1 on chromosome 21, and there are multiple pseudogenes positioned in a cluster on chromosome 4.

Stem cell factor / KIT ligand (SCF) is a cytokine which binds CD117(c-Kit). SCF is also known as "steel factor" or "c-kit ligand". SCF exists in two forms, cell surface bound SCF and soluble (or free) SCF. Soluble SCF is produced by the cleavage of surface bound SCF by metalloproteases.
SCF is a growth factor important for the survival, proliferation, and differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells and other hematopoietic progenitor cells. One of its roles is to change the BFU-E (burst-forming unit-erythroid) cells, which are the earliest erythrocyte precursors in the erythrocytic series, into the CFU-E (colony-forming unit-erythroid).

Tubby-related protein 1 (TULP1) belongs to the TULP family of 4 proteins (TUB and TULP1, -2, and -3), categorized structurally by the highly conserved C-terminal half of the protein. Tubby-like gene family (TULPs) members are found in plants, vertebrates, and invertebrates and encode proteins of unknown function. TULP proteins share a conserved C-terminal region of roughly 200 amino acid residues. In the retina, TULP1 is observed exclusively in the photoreceptor cells, localizing predominantly in the inner segments and connecting cilium and to a lesser degree in the perinuclear cytoplasm and synaptic termini. TULP1 gene mutations are linked with retinitis pigmentosa.

Oncostatin M is a member of a cytokine family that includes leukemia-inhibitory factor, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, and interleukin 6. This gene encodes a growth regulator which inhibits the proliferation of a number of tumor cell lines. It regulates cytokine production, including IL-6, G-CSF and GM-CSF from endothelial cells.

Granulocyte/Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factors are cytokines that act in hematopoiesis by controlling the production, differentiation, and function of 2 related white cell populations of the blood, the granulocytes and the monocytes-macrophages. MCSF induces cells of the monocyte/macrophage lineage. MCSF plays a role in immunological defenses, bone metabolism, lipoproteins clearance, fertility and pregnancy.

Neutral endopeptidase (NEP) is an enzyme located in the cell membrane (bound to it) that is able to dissolve biologically active proteins and is expressed on the surface of lymphoid progenitors, human podocytes, syncytiotrophoblastic cells, and many other epithelial cells including polymorphonuclear leukocytes.

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.

Mesenchymal epithelial transition factor (c-MET) is a proto-oncogenic receptor tyrosine kinase. The endogenous ligand for c-MET is HGF (hepatocyte growth factor), which is a disulfide-linked heterodimeric molecule produced predominantly by mesenchymal cells. In the adult, c-MET protein expression is limited to stem and progenitor cells and is required for wound healing and hepatocyte regeneration. In the embryo, c-MET receptors are expressed on cells of epithelial origin, which are vital for invasive growth and mediate epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Abnormal activation of the HGF/MET pathway leads to a variety of cancers. c-MET mutation is linked with a poor prognosis since it can trigger tumor growth, angiogenesis and metastasis.

Wingless-Type MMTV Integration Site Family, Member 7A also known as WNT7A belongs to the WNT gene family, this family consists of structurally related genes which encode secreted signaling proteins. These proteins have been implicated in oncogenesis and in several developmental processes, including regulation of cell fate and patterning during embryogenesis. WNT7A is involved in the development of the anterior-posterior axis in the female reproductive tract, and also plays an essential role in uterine smooth muscle pattering and maintenance of adult uterine function. In addition, Mutations in WNT7A have been associated with Fuhrmann and Al-Awadi Raas-Rothschild Schinzel phocomelia syndromes.

Pleckstrin homology-like domain family A member 2 (PHLDA2) is a cytoplasmic protein, which is involved in fetal and placental growth. PHLDA2 is an apoptosis-related protein, which acts as a negative growth regulator and is expressed during normal human development. PHLDA2 is imprinted on placenta, liver and fetal tissues during embryogenesis and is removed once development is complete. The PHLDA2 gene is one of a number of genes in the imprinted gene domain of 11p15.5 which is considered to be an important tumor suppressor gene region. Changes in this region may be linked to the Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, Wilms tumor, rhabdomyosarcoma, adrenocortical carcinoma, and lung, ovarian, and breast cancer. PHLDA2 is expressed in placenta (present in all cells of the villous cytotrophoblast) and adult prostate gland. Furthermore, PHLDA2 is expressed in adult brain and neuroblastoma, medullablastoma and glioblastoma cell lines and at low levels in adult liver and lung, and fetal liver.

Pleiotrophin (Osteoblast-Specific Factor-1, OSF-1) contains 136 amino acid residues. The sequence is very rich in cationic amino acids (24% of the residues); lysine cluster sequences are found in the N-terminal and C-terminal ends of the structure.
The OSF-1 gene was shown by Northern blotting analysis to be expressed in mouse calvarial osteoblast-enriched cells and in mouse brain tissues, but not in thymus, spleen, kidney, liver, lung, testis or heart. Pleiotrophin has the ability to promote adhesion, migration, expansion, and differentiation of human osteoprogenitor cells. In addition to certain types of cancer, the embryonic growth and differentiation factor pleiotrophin is found also in adults in inflammatory diseases. In osteoarthritis, pleiotrophin is especially expressed in early stages, and its concentrations in the synovial fluid could serve as a marker for the progress of the disease. Pleitrophin might be involved in cartilage repair in osteoarthritis, in particular, in earlier stages.

Stem cell factor / KIT ligand (SCF) is a cytokine which binds CD117(c-Kit). SCF is also known as "steel factor" or "c-kit ligand". SCF exists in two forms, cell surface bound SCF and soluble (or free) SCF. Soluble SCF is produced by the cleavage of surface bound SCF by metalloproteases. SCF is a growth factor important for the survival, proliferation, and differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells and other hematopoietic progenitor cells. One of its roles is to change the BFU-E (burst-forming unit-erythroid) cells, which are the earliest erythrocyte precursors in the erythrocytic series, into the CFU-E (colony-forming unit-erythroid).