Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 family, member A3, also known as ALDH1A3 or retinaldehyde dehydrogenase 3 (RALDH3), is an
enzyme
Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products. A ...
that in humans is encoded by the ''ALDH1A3''
gene
In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...
,
Function
Aldehyde dehydrogenase
Aldehyde dehydrogenases () are a group of enzymes that catalyse the oxidation of aldehydes. They convert aldehydes (R–C(=O)) to carboxylic acids (R–C(=O)). The oxygen comes from a water molecule. To date, nineteen ALDH genes have be ...
isozymes are thought to play a major role in the detoxification of aldehydes generated by alcohol metabolism and lipid peroxidation. The enzyme encoded by this gene uses
retinal
Retinal (also known as retinaldehyde) is a polyene chromophore. Retinal, bound to proteins called opsins, is the chemical basis of visual phototransduction, the light-detection stage of visual perception (vision).
Some microorganisms use retin ...
as a substrate, either in a free or a cellular retinol-binding protein form.
Cancer
ALDH1A3 gene has been observed progressively downregulated in
Human papillomavirus
Human papillomavirus infection (HPV infection) is caused by a DNA virus from the ''Papillomaviridae'' family. Many HPV infections cause no symptoms and 90% resolve spontaneously within two years. In some cases, an HPV infection persists and res ...
-positive
neoplastic keratinocytes derived from uterine cervical
preneoplastic lesions at different levels of malignancy.
For this reason, ALDH1A3 is likely to be associated with tumorigenesis and may be a potential prognostic marker for uterine cervical
preneoplastic lesions progression.
References
External links
*
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{gene-15-stub