Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:2.7.7.49 (reverse transcriptase)
 31,746 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Cancer/testis (CT) antigens are immunogenic proteins expressed predominantly in gametogenic tissue and cancer; they are considered promising target molecules for cancer vaccines. The identification of new CT genes is essential to the development of polyvalent cancer vaccines designed to overcome tumor heterogeneity and antigen loss. In the current study, a search for new CT genes was conducted by mining the Unigene database for gene clusters that contain expressed sequence tags derived solely from both normal testis and tumor-derived cDNA libraries. This search identified 1,325 different cancer/testis-associated Unigene clusters. The mRNA expression pattern of 73 cancer/testis-associated Unigene clusters was assessed by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Three gene products, CT15/Hs.177959, CT16/Hs.245431 and CT17/Hs.178062, were detected only in testis and in tumor tissue. CT15 is equivalent to ADAM2/fertilin-beta. CT16, an uncharacterized gene product, has homology (30-50%) to members of the GAGE gene family and is 89% identical to CT16.2/Hs.293317, indicating that CT16 and CT16.2 are members of a new GAGE gene family. The uncharacterized gene product, CT17, has homology (30%) to phospholipase A1. RT-PCR analysis showed that CT15 is expressed exclusively in renal cancer, whereas CT16 and CT17 are expressed in a range of human cancers. Real-time RT-PCR analysis of newly defined CT genes and the prototype CT antigens, MAGE-3 and NY-ESO-1, revealed low levels (less than 3% of the level detected in testis) of CT15, CT16 and NY-ESO-1 in a limited range of normal, non-gametogenic tissues. This study demonstrates the merits of database mining with respect to the identification of tissue-restricted gene products expressed in cancer.
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PMID:Identification of cancer/testis genes by database mining and mRNA expression analysis. 1192 Jun 6

Immediately after birth, primordial germinal cell-derived prespermatogonia (PSG), located in the center of the testicular cords, migrate between adjacent Sertoli cells to establish contact with the cord basal lamina. PSG migration suggests continued assembly and disassembly of cell-cell contacts by a molecular mechanism that may involve integrins and their ligands, the disintegrin domain of spermatogenic cell-specific plasma membrane proteins called ADAMs. We have analyzed the temporal gene expression of selected ADAMs in intact fetal, early postnatal, and pubertal rat testis and Sertoli-spermatogenic cell cocultures by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, in situ hybridization, and immunocytochemistry. We report that several ADAM transcripts are expressed in fetal, neonatal, and prepubertal testes. Cyritestin (ADAM3), ADAM5, ADAM6, and ADAM15 are expressed in day 17 fetal testes. In contrast, no expression of fertilin alpha (ADAM1) and fertilin beta (ADAM 2) was detected in fetal testes. Fertilin beta gene expression starts after postnatal day 2, subsequent to the expression of fertilin alpha, which occurs on postnatal day 1. After postnatal day 2, all the indicated ADAMs, including the fertilin alpha and fertilin beta, continue to be expressed. Transcripts of spermatogenic cell-specific fertilin alpha, fertilin beta, ADAM3, and ADAM5 were detected during the coculture of PSG with Sertoli cells for up to 72 hr after plating. The presence of fertilin beta mRNA and protein in cocultured PSG was visualized by in situ hybridization and immunocytochemistry, respectively. These observations indicate that PSG in coculture with Sertoli cells provide a suitable approach for analyzing cell-cell adhesive responses involving spermatogenic cell-specific ADAMs.
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PMID:Chronological gene expression of ADAMs during testicular development: prespermatogonia (gonocytes) express fertilin beta (ADAM2). 1281 33