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Cell Death-Inducing DFFA-Like Effector C (CIDEC) belongs to the cell death-inducing DNA fragmentation factor-like effector family, whose members have significant roles in apoptosis. CIDEC is expressed mainly in adipocytes, intestine, heart, stomach, and weakly in the brain, kidney and liver. CIDEC overexpression in preadipocytes induces apoptosis. CIDEC regulates enlargement of lipid droplets.

Creatine Kinase BB is a cytoplasmic enzyme involved in energy homeostasis. The encoded protein reversibly catalyzes the transfer of phosphate between ATP and various phosphogens such as creatine phosphate. It acts as a homodimer in brain as well as in other tissues, and as a heterodimer with a similar muscle isozyme in heart. The encoded protein is a member of the ATP:guanido phosphotransferase protein family. A pseudogene of this gene has been characterized.

CKS1B protein which binds to the catalytic subunit of cyclin dependent kinases is vital for their biological function. The CKS1B mRNA is expressed in HeLa cells during the course of cell cycle in several forms which suggests that the encoded protein has a particular function. Two transcript variants were identified for this gene however it seems that only one of them encodes a protein.

Type 1 cystatins are also called stefins which function as intracellular thiol protease inhibitors. Cystatin-B protein is able to form a dimer stabilized by noncovalent forces, inhibiting papain and cathepsins l, h and b. CSTB protein protects proteases leakage from lysosomes. Mutations in Stefin-B gene cause primary defects in patients with progressive myoclonic epilepsy (EPM1), a degenerative disease of the central nervous system. CSTB is overexpressed & elevated in the serum of HCC patients. Cystatin-B in vivo has a polymeric structure which is sensitive to the redox environment. Cystatin-B inhibits bone resorption by down-regulating intracellular cathepsin K activity despite increased osteoclast survival. Protein and mRNA levels of stefin B are significantly lower in atypical benign meningiomas. Stefins-A & Stefin-B which belong to the type-1 Cystatins, are up-regulated in lung tumours and thus able to counteract harmful tumour-associated proteolytic activity. Human stefin-A & Stef

Casein kinase I gene family members take part in the control of cytoplasmic and nuclear processes, including DNA replication and repair. Casein Kinase 1 Delta (CSNK1D) is a member of the casein kinase I (CKI) gene family. CSNK1D is a vital serine/threonine-protein kinase which regulates diverse cellular growth and survival processes including Wnt signaling and circadian rhythms. CSNK1D phosphorylates a great amount of proteins.

CKB is a cytoplasmic enzyme that takes part in energy homeostasis. CKB enzyme reversibly catalyzes the transfer of phosphate among ATP and various phosphogens such as creatine phosphate. CKB functions as a homodimer in the brain as well as in different tissues, and as a heterodimer with a similar muscle isozyme in heart. Creatine kinases supply the energy of phosphate hydrolysis essential to drive the normal role of many cellular systems including muscle, tumor and cancer cells.

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) is a glycoprotein present in fetal digestive-tract tissues; it’s involved in cell adhesion. The production of CEA stops before birth. CEA is called tumor marker since its elevated levels are found in the serum from individuals with colorectal, gastric, pancreatic, lung and breast carcinomas and in heavy smokers.
There are also benign conditions that elevate CEA levels such as smoking, infection, inflammatory bowel disease, pancreatitis, cirrhosis of the liver, and some benign tumors (in the equivalent organs which have cancers with elevated CEA). Typically, higher levels of CEA are found in men, smokers, and older individuals.
The presence of CEA assists in screening, in evaluating recurrent or disseminated disease, and in determining the success of surgical removal of malignant tumors.
CEA levels can be used as indicators of treatment success. The normal values range from 0.0 to 2.5 ng/ml of serum (from blood), in non-smokers, a greater amount than that may be suggestive of cancer. Levels above 20 ng/ml before treatment are associated with cancer which has already metastasized. Benign conditions do not usually cause a CEA increase over 10 ng/ml.
The high levels of CEA should return to normal after successful therapy, however if during follow up there’s an elevation in CEA levels it indicates a recurrence of tumor.
Carcinoembryonic antigen family belongs to the immunoglobulin superfamily; it consists of 29 genes, 18 of which are normally expressed.

CTSW protein belongs to the peptidase C1 family. CTSW is a cysteine proteinase with a detailed role in the regulation and mechanism of T-cell cytolytic activity. The encoded CTSW is linked to the membrane inside the endoplasmic reticulum of natural killer and cytotoxic T-cells. CTSW expression is up-regulated by interleukin-2.

Cytohesin 3 (CYTH3) belongs to the PSCD family, whose members have identical structural organization which consists of an N-terminal coiled-coil motif, a central Sec7 domain, and a C-terminal pleckstrin homology (PH) domain, and seem to mediate the regulation of protein sorting and membrane trafficking. CYTH3 is involved in the regulation of Golgi structure and function, and it might have a physiological role in regulating ADP-ribosylation factor protein 6 (ARF) functions, in addition to acting on ARF1.

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.

Complement Component C5a (C5a) is involved in the complement system and it is encoded by the C5 gene in human. Complement C5 is cleaved into C5a and C5b. C5a has an imperative role in chemotaxis and C5b forms the 1st part of the complement membrane attack complex. Complement C5 is the 5th component of complement, which plays a central role in inflammatory and cell killing processes. C5a protein is composed of alpha and beta polypeptide chains, which are linked by a disulfide bridge. An activation peptide, C5a, which is an anaphylatoxin, which has potent spasmogenic and chemotactic activity, is derivative from the alpha polypeptide via cleavage with a convertase. The C5b macromolecular cleavage product forms a complex with the C6 complement component, and this complex is the basis for creation of the membrane attack complex, which includes supplementary complement components.

Vascular endothelial growth factor is an important signaling protein involved in both vasculogenesis and angiogenesis. As its name implies, VEGF activity has been mostly studied on cells of the vascular endothelium, although it does have effects on a number of other cell types (e.g. stimulation monocyte/ macrophagemigration, neurons, cancer cells, kidney epithelial cells ).VEGF mediates increased vascular permeability, induces angiogenesis, vasculogenesis and endothelial cell growth, promotes cell migration, and inhibits apoptosis. In vitro, VEGF has been shown to stimulate endothelial cell mitogenesisand cell migration. VEGF is also a vasodilator and increases microvascular permeability and was originally referred to as vascular permeability factor.
Elevated levels of this protein are linked to POEMS syndrome, also known as Crow-Fukase syndrome. Mutations in this gene have been associated with proliferative and nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy.

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.

CISD1 protein holds a CDGSH iron-sulfur domain and is known to bind a redox-active [2Fe-2S] cluster. CISD1 is restricted to the outer membrane of mitochondria and takes part in oxidation regulation.

Beta-casein precursor (CSN2) is a member of the beta-casein family. CSN2 has an imperative role in determination of the surface properties of the casein micelles. CSN2 is specific to mammary glands and is secreted in milk.

RAET1E is a member of the MHC class I family. MHC class I family contains main histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I-related genes positioned in a cluster on chromosome 6q24.2-q25.3. RAET1E and RAET1G protein are different from other RAET1 proteins since they have type I membrane-spanning sequences at their C termini instead glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor sequences.RAET1E acts as a ligand for NKG2D receptor, expressed on the surface of numerous types of immune cells, involves in innate adaptive immune reactions.RAET1E delivers signals to NK cells and advances tumor immune surveillance by inducing the growth of anti-tumor cytotoxic lymphocyte.

Vaspin (visceral adipose-specific SERPIN), a newly identified adipokine, which is a member of serine protease inhibitor family. Vaspin is also a unique insulin sensitizing adipocytokine in obesity. A recent publication indicates that induction of human vaspin mRNA expression in adipose tissue is regulated in a fat depot-specific manner and could be associated with parameters of obesity, insulin resistance, and glucose metabolism.

A main factor of pathogenic Yersinia enterocolitica strains is a plasmid-encoded type 3 secretion system, through which Yersinia outer proteins (Yops) are injected into the host cell. Yop E is a GTPase activation protein which controls pore formation by activating small Rho GTPase, causing inhibition of actin polymerization.

Chitinase is a digestive enzyme which breaks down glycosidic bonds in chitin. Due to chitin being a component of the cell walls of fungi and exoskeletal elements of some animals (including worms and arthropods), chitinases are usually found in organisms that either need to remake their own chitin or to dissolve and digest the chitin of fungi or animals. Chitinivorous organisms include many bacteria genuses such as Aeromonas, Bacillus, Vibrio, among others, which may be pathogenic or detritivorous. Chitinase expression is mediated by the NPR1 gene and the salicylic acid pathway, both of which are involved in resisting fungal and insect attack. Human chitinases appear in gastric juices. They are likely to be digestive chitinases, for catabolic activity. Chitinase activity is identified systemically in humans, in the blood, and possibly cartilage. Chitinase has been related to allergies, asthma in particular has been linked to enhanced chitinase expression levels, also dust mites and mold spores which are both chitin covered.

C-JUN is a gene which, in combination with c-Fos, forms the AP-1early response transcription factor. C-JUN is activated by the JNKpathway. C-JUN is the putative transforming gene of avian sarcoma virus 17. C-JUN is a protein which is highly similar to the viral protein, and which interacts directly with specific target DNA sequences to regulate gene expression. The C-JUN gene is intronless and is mapped to 1p32-p31, a chromosomal region involved in both translocations and deletions in human malignancies.

HES7 belongs to the Hairy and enhancer of split family of bHLH transcription factors. The mouse ortholog of the HES7 is set by Notch signaling. The protein serves as a transcriptional repressor, and is involved in correct patterning of the axial skeleton. A mutation in HES7 has been shown to result in spondylocostal dysostosis. Multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been discovered for HES7.

CINP is a member of the CINP family. CINP cooperates with the components of the replication complex and 2 kinases, CDK2 and CDC7, to provide a working and physical link between CDK2 and CDC7 throughout the firing of the origins of replication.