title: Rat stem-cell leukemia gene expression increased during testis maturation.
abstract: We found that stem-cell leukemia (SCL), also known as T cell acute-lymphocytic leukemia (Tal-1) gene expression, was upregulated in the maturing rat testis. Strong expression of Tal-1 was detected in the normal maturing rat testis by Northern blotting. Western blotting revealed the protein size to be about 34 kDa. Protein expression was wide-spread in spermatocytes, spermtids and spermatogonia in accordance with the seminiferous epithelium cycle, as determined by an analysis of immunohistochemistry. Gene expression of Tal-1 regulatory gene, NKX3.1, was negatively correlated with Tal-1 expression. Human Tal-1 expression in the maturing testis as well as in bone marrow was observed, which suggests that the gene product is a novel cancer-testis antigen candidate. Taken together, TAL-1 may be involved in cell division, morphological changes, and the development of spermatogenic cells in the normal rat testis.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Veterinary Biochemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Tottori University, Tottori 680-8553, Japan.
authors.forename: Ahmed Magzoub
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Khalid
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Asano
authors.forename: Yoshinao Z
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Hosaka
authors.forename: Masanori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ohta
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohyama
authors.forename: Yoshiaki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamano
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013091:Spermatogenesis; D013737:Testis / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; C581091:Tal1 protein, rat