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Query: UMLS:C0009443 (cold)
 92,137 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Inactivation of germ-cell-specific molecules essential for the production of functional spermatozoa could lead to attractive new means for male contraception. The mouse protein MSY2 is the mammalian homologue of a class of Xenopus DNA/RNA-binding proteins needed for the transcription of testis-specific genes and for translational repression (masking) of paternal mRNAs. In this report, we describe the human homologue for MSY2, Contrin. Sequence analysis of Contrin cDNAs predicts a protein highly similar to its mouse and Xenopus germ-cell Y-box protein homologues with a cold shock domain and four basic/aromatic islands. Contrin is highly basic and is rich in the amino acids arginine and proline. It contains seven putative casein kinase 2 phosphorylation sites and three putative protein kinase C phosphorylation sites, suggesting that Contrin could be highly phosphorylated in vivo. The predicted protein sequence contains two nuclear localization signals, consistent with its predicted role of shuttling between nucleus and cytoplasm. Contrin maps to human chromosome 17p11.2-13.1. By the criteria of northern and western blotting, Contrin appears to be testis specific and distinct from other mammalian Y-box-binding proteins. We predict that inactivation of Contrin function in mammalian germ cells would prevent the formation of functional male gametes.
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PMID:Contrin, the human homologue of a germ-cell Y-box-binding protein: cloning, expression, and chromosomal localization. 1010 Apr 84

Y-box-binding proteins are members of the human cold-shock domain protein superfamily, which includes dbpA, dbpB/YB-1, and dbpC/contrin. dbpC/contrin is a germ cell-specific Y-box-binding protein and is suggested to function as a nuclear transcription factor and RNA-binding protein in the cytoplasm. Whereas ubiquitous dbpB/YB-1 expression has been well studied in various types of human carcinomas as a prognostic or predictive marker, the dbpC/contrin expression in human tumour cells has not been reported. In this report, we provide the first evidence showing that dbpC was highly expressed in human testicular seminoma and ovarian dysgerminomas, and in carcinomas in other tissues and that its expression in normal tissues is nearly restricted to germ cells and placental trophoblasts. These results indicate that dbpC/contrin would be a potentially novel cancer/testis antigen.
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PMID:Expression of Y-box-binding protein dbpC/contrin, a potentially new cancer/testis antigen. 1647 55

The transcriptional regulation of the germ cell-specific cold-shock domain protein dbpC/Contrin was investigated, and the promoter region between -272 and -253 relative to the transcription start site was shown to be critical for the manifestation of cell-type specific transcription. In vivo footprint analysis demonstrated that the E-box located between -272 and -253 is protected in the dbpC/Contrin-positive germ cell tumor cell lines NEC8 and TERA1, but not in the dbpC/Contrin-negative bladder cancer cell line T24 or ovarian cancer cell line A2780. The promoter activity of the dbpC/Contrin gene was transactivated by co-transfection with c-Myc and the N-Myc expression plasmid. Western blotting analysis clearly showed that N-Myc is highly expressed in both NEC8 and TERA1 cells, and that c-Myc is expressed in both T24 and A2780 cells. These data demonstrate that cell-type specific dbpC/Contrin expression in germ cells is regulated by N-Myc. In addition, dbpC/Contrin is localized mainly in the cytoplasm of NEC8 and TERA1 cells, but is translocated to the nucleus when its C-terminal region is partially deleted. Our findings also suggest that dbpC/Contrin can be used as a molecular tool for the detection of germ cell tumors.
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PMID:Expression and cellular localization of dbpC/Contrin in germ cell tumor cell lines. 1662 24