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	Ozlem Türeci, Ugur Sahin, Michael Koslowski, Benedikt Buss, Carolin Bell, Pia Ballweber, Carsten Zwick, Thomas Eberle, Margit Zuber, Carlos Villena-Heinsen, Gerhard Seitz, Michael Pfreundschuh
Journal	Oncogene (Oncogene) Vol. 21 Issue 24 Pg. 3879-88 (May 30 2002) ISSN: 0950-9232 [Print] England
PMID	12032826 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
Chemical References	Antigens Antigens, Neoplasm DNA, Complementary DNA-Binding Proteins LUZP4 protein, human Luminescent Proteins MAS1 protein, human Proto-Oncogene Mas Green Fluorescent Proteins
Topics	Alternative Splicing Antigens (chemistry, metabolism) Antigens, Neoplasm (biosynthesis, chemistry, genetics) Blotting, Northern DNA, Complementary (metabolism) DNA-Binding Proteins (biosynthesis, chemistry, genetics) Genome Green Fluorescent Proteins Humans Immunoblotting Leucine Zippers Luminescent Proteins (metabolism) Microscopy, Fluorescence Models, Biological Models, Chemical Phenotype Protein Structure, Tertiary Proto-Oncogene Mas Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction Tissue Distribution Transcription, Genetic Tumor Cells, Cultured

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