Cancer

Melanoma is caused by DNA damage to melanin producing cells. Common warning signs of melanoma are changes in color, size, and shape of skin/moles, new growth areas on the skin, and sores that do not heal. Protection from sun exposure and ultraviolet rays as well as regularly examining changes to skin are important for prevention.

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The protein encoded by SNF5 is a component of the chromatin-remodeling protein complex responsible for relieving repressive chromatin structures by allowing the transcriptional machinery to access targets more effectively. SNF5 has been found to be a tumor suppressor, and mutations within it are associated with some malignant tumors. Two transcript variants encoding different isoforms exist. Scurr’s group published interesting findings on effector proteins in senescence in Cell¹.

p73 has been identified as a long-lost cousin of the p53 tumor suppressor protein. It has high homology with both p53 and with p63, a gene implicated in the maintenance of epithelial stem cells. The presence of significant homology between the DNA-binding domains of p53, p63, and p73 suggest that they have overlapping functions. Targeted disruption of p73 leads to defects hippocampal dysgenesis, hydrocephalus, chronic inflammation, and infections.

Caspase 6, also known as Apoptotic protease Mch-2, belongs to the peptidase C14A family. It functions as a downstream enzyme in the caspase activation cascade and is responsible for the execution of apoptosis. Its overexpression promotes programmed cell death.

Diseases associated with CASP6 include thoracic cancer and myocardial infarction.  Among its related super-pathways are DR3 Signaling and Apoptosis and the survival FAS signaling cascade.

MMP2 is a peptidase enzyme that belongs to the large family of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) which degrade the extracellular matrix (ECM) with different substrate specificities. Aberrant and unregulated expression of MMPs via deregulation of key negative check controls is strongly associated with increased tumor invasiveness, metastasis potential, and angiogenesis. This uncontrolled behavior is in direct contrast to the tightly controlled physiological systems of embryonic development, tissue remodeling, and rebuilding.

The survivin anti-apoptotic protein is the smallest member of a large family of proteins such as X-linked IAP, c-IAP1 and 2, IAP-like protein-2, melanoma IAP, Livin, and NAIP. Survivin regulates basic physiological events such as the cell cycle, tumor progression, fetal development, and cell migration.

The Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) protein, also known as CD289, belongs to the family of Toll-like receptor (TLR) proteins which play a large role in pathogen recognition and the activation of innate immunity. Scientists using TLR9 antibodies have found that TLRs are highly conserved from Drosophila to humans, with a high degree of structural and functional homology^1,2.

Glioma-associated oncogene 1 (Gli1) is a transcription factor within the DNA-binding zinc-finger protein family. The Sonic Hedgehog signaling pathway (SHH), which assists in embryonic development and maintaining stem cell populations in adults, activates the Gli1 protein. In the SHH Pathway, the hedgehog ligand binds to patched transmembrane protein receptor (PTC). PTC is an inhibitor of SMO, a protein receptor, and when the hedgehog ligand is present, SMO is not inhibited.

GAPDH is a 146 kD tetramer glycolytic pathway metabolic enzyme responsible for reversibly phosphorylating glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate. It may have other possible functions in transcriptional activation. GAPDH is highly expressed due to this housekeeping role, and its prevalent expression has allowed its use as an internal loading control – traditionally for mRNA expression comparisons – but also in protein studies.

Isotype controls are primarily used as negative controls in flow cytometry but they can also be used for immunohistochemistry. They are used to approximate the non-specific target primary antibody binding due to protein-protein interactions, binding to Fc receptors on target cells, non-specific protein-protein interactions, and cell autofluorescence.