Description
Product Characteristics:
Melanoma-associated antigen (MAGE) are completely silent in normal tissues, with the exception of male germ cells, and, for some of them, placenta. These antigens ought to be strictly tumor specific, expressed in tumor cells of various histological types. Because of their specific expression on tumor cells, these antigens are of particular interest for antitumor immunotherapy. Genes of the MAGE family direct the expression of tumor antigens that are recognized on a human melanoma by autologous cytolytic T lymphocytes. Though the function of MAGE is unknown, may play a role in embryonal development and tumor transformation or aspects of tumor progression.
Subcellular location: Cytoplasm, Nucleus
Synonyms: Mage-l2, MAGE-like 2, MAGE-like protein 2, MAGEL2, melanoma antigen-like gene 2, NDNL1, necdin-like 1, nM15, ns7.
Target Information: This gene is a member of the MAGEA gene family. The members of this family encode proteins with 50 to 80% sequence identity to each other. The promoters and first exons of the MAGEA genes show considerable variability, suggesting that the existence of this gene family enables the same function to be expressed under different transcriptional controls. The MAGEA genes are clustered at chromosomal location Xq28. They have been implicated in some hereditary disorders, such as dyskeratosis congenita. This gene has two identical copies at different loci. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding the same protein have been identified for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]