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Cancer-retina antigens — A new group of tumor antigens

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Abstract

Some photoreceptor proteins normally specific for the eye retina are aberrantly expressed in malignant tumors. These proteins include recoverin, visual rhodopsin, transducin, cGMP-phosphodiesterase 6 (PDE 6), cGMP-dependent cationic channels, guanylyl cyclase 1, rhodopsin kinase, and arrestin. By analogy with cancer-testis antigens, these photoreceptor proteins form the group of cancer-retina antigens. It is shown that an aberrant demethylation of the promoter region of recoverin is involved in the aberrant expression of this protein. The cascade Wnt5a → Frizzled-2 → transducin → PDE 6 is shown to function in skin melanoma cells, and this suggests that these cancer-retina antigens can play a functional role. The events accompanying the signal transduction in this cascade, including those involving calcium ions and cGMP-dependent protein kinase (protein kinase G), are discussed.

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Abbreviations

ADC:

5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine

CAR:

cancer-associated retinopathy

MAR:

melanoma-associated retinopathy

NSCLC:

non-small cell lung carcinoma

PDE 6:

cGMP-phosphodiesterase 6

SCLC:

small cell lung carcinoma

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991, Moscow, Russia

    M. O. Golovastova, A. V. Bazhin & P. P. Philippov

  2. Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991, Moscow, Russia

    M. O. Golovastova

  3. Department of General, Visceral, and Transplant Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, 81377, Munich, Germany

    A. V. Bazhin

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  1. M. O. Golovastova
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  2. A. V. Bazhin
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  3. P. P. Philippov
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Correspondence to M. O. Golovastova.

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Original Russian Text © M. O. Golovastova A. V. Bazhin, P. P. Philippov, 2014, published in Biokhimiya, 2014, Vol. 79, No. 8, pp. 923–931.

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Golovastova, M.O., Bazhin, A.V. & Philippov, P.P. Cancer-retina antigens — A new group of tumor antigens. Biochemistry Moscow 79, 733–739 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1134/S000629791408001X

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