Expression of nma, a novel gene, inversely correlates with the metastatic potential of human melanoma cell lines and xenografts

Abstract

nma, a novel gene, was isolated by using a subtractive hybridization technique in which the gene expression was compared in a panel of human melanoma cell lines with different metastatic potential. nma mRNA expression (I .5 kb) is high in poorly metastatic human melanoma cell lines and xenografts and completely absent in highly metastatic human melanoma cell lines. Fluorescence in situ hybridization combined with the analysis of a panel of human-rodent somatic cell hybrids indicated that the nma gene is located on human chromosome 10, in the region p I I .2-p 12.3. Sequence analysis of nma showed no homologies with other known genes or proteins, except for several partially sequenced cDNAs. The predicted amino acid sequence suggests that the protein encoded by nma contains a transmembrane domain. Expression of nma is high in human kidney medulla, placenta and spleen, low in kidney cortex, liver, prostate and gut and absent in lung and muscle. Whereas nma is not expressed in normal skin tissue, expression is high in melanocytes and in 3 out of I I melanoma metastases tested.

Expression profiling in multistage hepatocarcinogenesis: Identification of HSP70 as a molecular marker of early hepatocellular carcinoma

“…36 Some of the up-regulated genes previously had been correlated with cellular dysplasia and tumor malignancy in several types of cancers. For example, type I sigma receptor 37 and nma, 38 which are transmembrane proteins, are known to be expressed in a variety of human tumor cells. Lipocalin 2, neutrophil-gelatinase-associated lipocalin, is reported to be overexpressed in some carcinomas.…”

The fate of U1 snRNP during anti-Fas induced apoptosis: specific cleavage of the U1 snRNA molecule

“…RNA was size fractionated on 6% polyacrylamide/8 M urea gels, blotted onto Hybond N + filters (Amersham) and hybridized as described previously. 47 Northern blots were washed with 26SSC/1% SDS (three times 20 min at 658C) and analyzed by autoradiography. In case of cell lysates, the total RNA of 0.5610 6 cells was size fractionated.…”

The TGF‐β pseudoreceptor gene Bambi is dispensable for mouse embryonic development and postnatal survival

“…In an expression screen for components involved in BMP4 signaling in Xenopus embryos, Onichtchouk et al (1999) identified a gene encoding a transmembrane protein highly related to type-I TGFβ receptors. They named the gene product BAMBI (BMP and activin membrane-bound inhibitor) because it lacked an intracellular kinase domain and its overexpression antagonized BMP and activin signaling in Xenopus embryos (Onichtchouk et al, 1999 (Degen et al, 1996), Zebrafish (Tsang et al, 2000, mouse (Grotewold et al, 2001), and rat (Loveland et al, 2003).…”

“…In an expression screen for components involved in BMP4 signaling in Xenopus embryos, Onichtchouk et al (1999) identified a gene encoding a transmembrane protein highly related to type-I TGFβ receptors. They named the gene product BAMBI (BMP and activin membrane-bound inhibitor) because it lacked an intracellular kinase domain and its overexpression antagonized BMP and activin signaling in Xenopus embryos (Onichtchouk et al, 1999 (Degen et al, 1996), Zebrafish (Tsang et al, 2000, mouse (Grotewold et al, 2001), and rat (Loveland et al, 2003).Ectopic expression of Bambi mRNA in Xenopus and zebrafish embryos resulted in phenotypes resembling inhibition of BMP signaling (Onichtchouk et al, 1999;Tsang et al, 2000). In vitro biochemical assays showed that the Bambi protein associated with type-I and type-II BMP/ TGFβ receptor complexes in the presence of ligands, suggesting that Bambi inhibits BMP/ TGFβ signaling by interfering with receptor complex formation or phosphorylation of type-I receptors (Onichtchouk et al, 1999;Tsang et al, 2000).…”

“…They named the gene product BAMBI (BMP and activin membrane-bound inhibitor) because it lacked an intracellular kinase domain and its overexpression antagonized BMP and activin signaling in Xenopus embryos (Onichtchouk et al, 1999). The Bambi gene is evolutionarily conserved and its homologs have been identified in human (Degen et al, 1996), Zebrafish (Tsang et al, 2000), mouse (Grotewold et al, 2001), and rat (Loveland et al, 2003).…”