title: A novel tumour associated leucine zipper protein targeting to sites of gene transcription and splicing.
abstract: We describe here the definition and characterization of antigen CT-8/HOM-TES-85 encoded by a previously unknown gene and identified by serological expression screening using antibodies from a seminoma patient. Intriguingly, the leucine zipper region of CT-8/HOM-TES-85 shows an atypical amphipathy with clusters of hydrophobic residues that is exclusively shared by the N-myc proto-oncogene. CT-8/HOM-TES-85 gene is tightly silenced in normal tissues except for testis. However, it is frequently activated in human neoplasms of different types including lung cancer, ovarian cancer, melanoma and glioma. Endogenous as well as heterogeneously expressed CT-8/HOM-TES-85 targets predominantly to the nucleus forming a distinctive speckled pattern of nuclear dots arranged in macromolecular structures. By co-localization studies these speckles were identified as loci of transcriptional activity and splicing, suggesting that CT-8/HOM-TES-85 may be involved in these processes. The aberrant expression of CT-8/HOM-TES-85 in human neoplasms might therefore be involved in cancer associated alterations of transcriptional or post-transcriptional processes and thus may disclose new mechanisms involved in the manifestation of the cancer phenotype.
authors.affiliation: III. Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, D-55131 Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Ozlem
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Türeci
authors.forename: Ugur
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Sahin
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koslowski
authors.forename: Benedikt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Buss
authors.forename: Carolin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: Pia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ballweber
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zwick
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Eberle
authors.forename: Margit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zuber
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Villena-Heinsen
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Seitz
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pfreundschuh
mesh_terms: D017398:Alternative Splicing; D000941:Antigens / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D016678:Genome; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D006801:Humans; D015151:Immunoblotting; D016350:Leucine Zippers; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008954:Models, Biological; D008956:Models, Chemical; D010641:Phenotype; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C456621:LUZP4 protein, human; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; C000715470:MAS1 protein, human; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins