title: Apoptosis screening of human chromosome 21 proteins reveals novel cell death regulators.
abstract: The functional analysis of chromosome 21 (Chr21) proteins is of great medical relevance. This refers, in particular, to the trisomy of human Chr21, which results in Down's syndrome, a complex developmental and neurodegenerative disease. In a previous study we analyzed 89 human Chr21 genes for the subcellular localization of their encoded proteins using a transfected-cell array technique. In the present study, the results of the follow-up investigation are presented in which 52 human Chr21 genes were over-expressed in HEK cells using the transfected-cell array platform, and the effect of this protein over-expression on the induction of apoptosis has been analyzed. We found that the over-expression of two Chr21 proteins (claudin-14 and -8) induced cell death independent of the classic caspase-mediated apoptosis. Our results strongly suggest the functional involvement of claudins in the control of the cell cycle and regulation of the cell death induction mechanism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Vertebrate Genomics, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Ihnestr. 73, 14195, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Yuhui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lehrach
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Janitz
mesh_terms: D017304:Annexin A5 / Q000378:metabolism; D017209:Apoptosis; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D001681:Biological Assay; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism; D002891:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 21 / Q000378:metabolism*; D057167:Claudins / Q000378:metabolism; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D006801:Humans; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D015398:Signal Transduction; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis
chemical_list: D017304:Annexin A5; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D057167:Claudins; D053148:Caspase 3