title: [Current situation and future prospect of cytoglobin research].
abstract: Cytoglobin was originally discovered from cultured rat hepatic stellate cells by using proteomics analysis in our laboratory in 2001. Cytoglobin is a hexacoordinate globin that is different from the traditional pentacoordinate globins like myoglobin and hemoglobin. Human cytoglobin has about 25% amino acid identity with vertebrate myoglobin and hemoglobin, and 16% with human neuroglobin that is another type of globin present specifically in the nervous system. Besides its function as O2, carbon monoxide, and nitric oxide-binding molecule, cytoglobin exhibits antioxidative properties under hypoxic condition. Recent analyses using clinical samples have indicated that cytoglobin may be a tumor suppressor gene because cytoglobin mRNA expression in cancer tissues is down-regulated through hypermethylation of cytoglobin gene promoter. In this review, the history of cytoglobin research, its current status and future prospects will be discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hepatology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka City University.
authors.forename: Norifumi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kawada
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000078842:Cytoglobin; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005914:Globins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: C000627265:CYGB protein, human; C000627268:Cygb protein, rat; D000078842:Cytoglobin; D006454:Hemoglobins; D005914:Globins