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Vps20-associated 1 homolog (VTA1) is a member of the VTA1 family. The VTA1 protein is involved in the endosomal multivesicular bodies (MVB) pathway. Furthermore, VTA1 is interacts with CHMP1B, CHMP2A, CHMP5, VPS4B, KIAA0174 (IST1) and possibly CHMP3. VTA1 is believed to be a cofactor of VPS4A/B, which catalyzes membrane-associated ESCRT-III assemblies. In addition, VTA1 is involved in the sorting and down-regulation of EGFR and also in HIV-1 budding.

HDAC2 is a member of the histone deacetylase family that performs through the construction of large multiprotein complexes and are in charge of the deacetylation of lysine residues on the N-terminal region of the core histones. HDAC2 forms transcriptional repressor complexes by relating to a diversity of proteins, like YY1- a mammalian zinc-finger transcription factor.
In addition, HDAC2 has a vital part in transcriptional regulation, cell cycle progression and developmental procedures.

Charged multivesicular body protein 3 (VPS24/CHMP3) is a member of the vacuolar sorting protein family and function as chromatin modifying proteins. VPS24 links directly with CHMP2 and CHMP4 for the disassembly of ESCRT-III complex in an ATP-dependent manner. During HIV-1 infection, the virus uses the ESCRT-III complex to mediate budding and exocytosis of viral proteins. VPS24 overexpression strongly hinders HIV-1 release.

PLAUR is one of 2 activators which convert the extracellular zymogen plasminogen to plasmin, a serine protease involved in a various normal and pathological processes that require cell migration and/or tissue destruction. PLAUR protein is synthesized and released from cells as a single-chain proenzyme with narrow enzymatic activity and is converted to an active two-chain disulfide-linked active enzyme by plasmin and other specific proteinases.

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.

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.

Microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT or Tau) is a protein that stabilizes microtubules. MAPT is abundant in neurons in the central nervous system and is less common elsewhere. When MAPT is defective, and no longer stabilizes microtubules properly, it can result in dementias, such as Alzheimer's disease.

PEDF is a neurotrophic protein that induces extensive neuronal differentiation in retinoblastoma cells. SerpinF1 is a potent inhibitor of angiogenesis. EPC1 doesn’t undergo the stressed to relaxed conformation transition characteristic as of the active serpins since it exhibits no serine protease inhibitory activity.
Aqueous humour level of asymmetric dimethylarginine is correlated with PEDF in humans. ADMA and PEDF levels are increased in response to inflammation in uveitis.
Lack of PEDF expression is a potent factor for the enhancement of tumor growth and angiogenesis in breast cancer.
PEDF & VEGF genes contribute to the development of diabetic retinopathy.
PEDF and VEGF structural changes in blood vessel wall play an important role in the pathophysiology of PD patients.
PEDF-overexpressing tumors exhibited reduced intratumoral angiogenesis.
SerpinF1 is a new promising approach for the treatment of osteosarcoma.
Levels of the natural ocular anti-angiogenic factor SentrinF1 (PEDF) is associated with proliferative retinopathy.
VEGF secreted by retinal pigment epithelial cells upregulates PEDF expression via VEGFR-1 in an autocrine manner.
Sentrin-F1 concentration in the aqueous humor of diabetic patients predicts who will develop progression of retinopathy.
PEDF blocks angiogenic effects of leptin through its anti-oxidative properties.

Cas9 (CRISPR associated protein 9) is an RNA-guided DNA endonuclease enzyme associated with the CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) adaptive immunity system in Streptococcus pyogenes, among other bacteria. S. Pyogenes utilizes Cas9 to remember and later probe and cleave foreign DNA, such as invading bacteriophage DNA or plasmid DNA. In case that the DNA substrate is complementary to the guide RNA, Cas9 cleaves the invading DNA. In addition to its original role in bacterial immunity, the Cas9 protein has been heavily employed as a genome engineering tool to induce site-directed double strand breaks in DNA. These disruptions may lead to gene inactivation or the presentation of heterologous genes via non-homologous end joining and homologous recombination respectively in many laboratory model organisms.

SP100 protein is Homodimer which takes part in the control of gene expression. SP100 interacts with members of the HP1 family of nonhistone chromosomal protein, such as CBX5 and CBX3 via the PxVxL motif and also interacts with Epstein-Barr virus EBNA-LP.
The major isoform Sp100-A, has a calculated MW of 54 kDa, but exhibits aberrant electrophoretic mobilities, with an apparent MW OF 100 kDa.

Pancreatitis-associated protein (PAP) is a secretory protein not normally expressed in healthy pancreas but highly induced during acute pancreatitis. While PAP has been shown to be anti-bacterial and antiapoptotic in vitro, its definitive biological function in vivo is not clear. Using antisepse oligonucleotides, inhibition of PAP expression significantly worsened pancreatitis in a rat model. During pancreatitis, PAP released by the pancreas could mediate lung inflammation through induction of hepatic TNF- alpha expression and subsequent increase in circulating TNF-alpha.
PAP is activated in primary liver cancers. In normal liver, the protein is undetectable in normal mature hepatocytes and found only in some ductular cells, representing potential hepatic progenitor cells. PAP can be considered hepatic cytokine that combines mitogenic and anti-apoptotic functions regarding hepatocytes, and consequently acts as a growth factor in vivo to enhance liver regeneration. In pancreatic cancor, PAP was overexpressed in 79% (30 of 38) of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, 19% (7 of 36) of chronic pancreatitis, and 29% (2 of 7) of mucinous cystadenoma. PAP was found in malignant ductular structures in pancreatic carcinomas as well as in benign proliferating ductules and acinar cells in chronic pancreatitis. Elevation of PAP in patients with pancreatic cancer is not merely explainable by concomitant pancreatitis, but seems to be due to increased PAP production by the cancer cells and is also correlated to tumour load as expressed by the UICC stages.
Epithelial expression of PAP was induced under intestinal mucosal inflammation initiated by exposure to commensal bacteria or DSS as well as inflamed IBD colon. Increased serum level of PAP diagnosed ileal location in active Crohn disease with a sensitivity of 60%, a specificity of 94%, a positive predictive value of 84% and a negative predictive value of 81%. Elevated serum PAP (> 50 ng/mL) is significantly associated with disease activity and ileal location of Crohn disease.

Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF) is a multifunctional growth factor which regulates both cell growth and cell motility. It exerts a strong mitogenic effect on hepatocytes and primary epithelial cells. HGF synergizes with Interleukin-3and GM-CSFto stimulate colony formation of hematopoietic progenitor cells in vitro and may, therefore, also modulate hematopoiesis.

BAIAP2 is a ubiquitous regulator of the actin cytoskeleton. Controled by the Rho-family GTPases BAIAP2 facilitates filopodia development. BAIAP2 is expressed in the cytoplasm and binds small membrane-bound G-proteins to cytoplasmic effector proteins. BAIAP2 was identified as interacting with the dentatorubral-pallidoluysian atrophy gene, which is related to an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease.

Lysosomal-Associated Membrane Protein 1 (LAMP1) is a part of the LAMP family. LAMP1 is a membrane protein which is expressed in the endosome-lysosome membranes of cells and is implicated in tumor cell metastasis. A glycoform of LAMP1 is expressed on the surface of activated macrophages and promotes T cell costimulation and a Th1 biased immune response. LAMP1 is also found on the plasma membrane during the activation of NK cells, CD8 & T cells, monocytes, basophils, and platelets.

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.

BRCC3 is a subunit of the BRCA1-BRCA2-containing complex (BRCC), which is an E3 ubiquitin ligase. BRCC3 is also thought to be involved in the cellular response to ionizing radiation and progression through the G2/M checkpoint.

WNT1-inducible-signaling pathway protein 2 (WISP2) belongs to the WNT1 inducible signaling pathway (WISP) protein subfamily, which belongs to the connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) family. The CTGF family members are characterized by 4 conserved cysteine-rich domains: insulin-like growth factor-binding domain, von Willebrand factor type C module, thrombospondin domain and C-terminal cystine knot-like (CT) domain. WISP2 protein lacks the CT domain which is implicated in dimerization binding. WISP2 is possibly involved in bone remodeling. WISP2 is expressed in primary osteoblasts and fibroblasts. WISP2 stimulates osteoblast adhesion and inhibits osteocalcin production. WISP2 expression in colon tumors is reduced while the other 2 WISP members are overexpressed in colon tumors. WISP2 may play an imperative role in modulating bone turnover.

DHH is part of the Hedgehog family which encodes signaling molecules that are involved in regulating morphogenesis. DHH protein is a precursor that is autocatalytically cleaved, the N-terminal portion is soluble and contains the signalling activity while the C-terminal portion is involved in precursor processing. Additionally, the C-terminal product covalently attaches a cholesterol moiety to the N-terminal product, restricting the N-terminal product to the cell surface and preventing it from freely diffusing throughout the organism. Defects in DHH protein have been associated with partial gonadal dysgenesis (PGD) accompanied by minifascicular polyneuropathy. DHH plays a role both male gonadal differentiation and perineurial development.
DHH plays a role in intercellular signaling which is essential for a variety of patterning events during development. DHH functions as a spermatocyte survival factor in the testes & is essential for testes development.

PDGF-BB is a member of the platelet-derived growth factor family. The four members of this family are mitogenic factors for cells of mesenchymal origin and are characterized by a motif of eight cysteines. This gene product can exist either as a homodimer (PDGF-BB) or as a heterodimer with the platelet-derived growth factor alpha polypeptide (PDGF-AB), where the dimers are connected by disulfide bonds. Mutations in this gene are associated with meningioma. Reciprocal translocations between chromosomes 22 and 7, at sites where this gene and that for COL1A1 are located, are associated with a particular type of skin tumor called dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans resulting from unregulated expression of growth factor. Two splice variants have been identified for this gene.

PLGF is a growth factor active in angiogenesis, and endothelial cell growth, stimulating their proliferation and migration. It binds to receptor vegfr-1/flt1.
PLGF-2 binds neuropilin-1 and 2 in a heparin-dependent manner.

LRPAP1 is a member of the alpha-2-MRAP family. LRPAP1 cooperates with LRP1/alpha-2-macroglobulin receptor and glycoprotein 330. LRPAP1, located on the cell surface, creates a complex with the alpha 2 macroglobulin receptor light and heavy chains and has part in the pathogenesis of membrane glomerular nephritis.

The bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are a family of secreted signaling molecules that can induce ectopic bone growth. Many BMPs are part of the transforming growth factor-beta (TGFB) superfamily. BMPs were originally identified by an ability of demineralized bone extract to induce endochondral osteogenesis in vivo in an extraskeletal site. Based on its expression early in embryogenesis, the BMP encoded by this gene has a proposed role in early development. In addition, the fact that this BMP is closely related to BMP5 and BMP7 has lead to speculation of possible bone inductive activity.

Twisted gastrulation Protein (TSG) is a secreted, cysteine-rich protein which has a role in dorsal/ventral patterning in Drosophila and Xenopus by regulating BMP signaling. TSG functions as an agonist for BMP signaling by controlling the inhibitory actions of the BMP antagonist, Chordin/Sog, and the cleavage properties of the metalloprotease, xolloid/tolloid. TSG N-terminal domain binds BMP protein directly and displays BMP antagonist activity.