Homeobox protein Hox-A5 is a
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...
that in humans is encoded by the ''HOXA5''
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 b ...
.
Function
In vertebrates, the genes encoding the class of
transcription factor
In molecular biology, a transcription factor (TF) (or sequence-specific DNA-binding factor) is a protein that controls the rate of transcription of genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA, by binding to a specific DNA sequence. The f ...
s called
homeobox genes are found in clusters named A, B, C, and D on four separate chromosomes. Expression of these proteins is spatially and temporally regulated during embryonic development. This gene is part of the A cluster on chromosome 7 and encodes a DNA-binding transcription factor which may regulate gene expression,
morphogenesis
Morphogenesis (from the Greek ''morphê'' shape and ''genesis'' creation, literally "the generation of form") is the biological process that causes a cell, tissue or organism to develop its shape. It is one of three fundamental aspects of deve ...
, and differentiation.
Methylation of this gene may result in the loss of its expression and, since the encoded protein upregulates the tumor suppressor
p53
p53, also known as Tumor protein P53, cellular tumor antigen p53 (UniProt name), or transformation-related protein 53 (TRP53) is a regulatory protein that is often mutated in human cancers. The p53 proteins (originally thought to be, and often s ...
, this protein may play an important role in
tumorigenesis
Carcinogenesis, also called oncogenesis or tumorigenesis, is the formation of a cancer, whereby normal cells are transformed into cancer cells. The process is characterized by changes at the cellular, genetic, and epigenetic levels and abnor ...
.
HoxA5 is controlled, at least in part, by
DNA methylation.
HoxA5 has been shown to upregulate the tumor suppressor p53 and
AKT1
RAC(Rho family)-alpha serine/threonine-protein kinase is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''AKT1'' gene. This enzyme belongs to the AKT subfamily of serine/threonine kinases that contain SH2 (Src homology 2-like) protein domains. It ...
by downregulation of
PTEN. Suppression of HoxA5 has been shown to attenuate
hemangioma
A hemangioma or haemangioma is a usually benign vascular tumor derived from blood vessel cell types. The most common form, seen in infants, is an infantile hemangioma, known colloquially as a "strawberry mark", most commonly presenting on the ski ...
growth. HoxA5 has far-reaching effects on gene expression, causing ~300 genes to become upregulated upon its induction in breast cancer cell lines. HoxA5 protein transduction domain overexpression prevents inflammation shown by inhibition of
TNFα-inducible monocyte binding to
HUVECs.
Comparison of the HoxA5
promoter methylation profile across cell types from the least differentiated (human embryonic stem cells) to the most endothelial-like (human umbilical vein endothelial cells, or HUVECs) shows that the HoxA5 promoter is normally heavily methylated in non-differentiated cells and becomes demethylated as cells differentiate down the
endothelial lineage.
HoxA5 contains a
C-Amp Response Elements (CRE) in its promoter.
POL2 and
CTCF
Transcriptional repressor CTCF also known as 11-zinc finger protein or CCCTC-binding factor is a transcription factor that in humans is encoded by the ''CTCF'' gene. CTCF is involved in many cellular processes, including transcriptional regulatio ...
binding are enriched at the
CpG-dense HoxA5 promoter in HUVECs, demonstrating transcriptional activity.
Clinical significance
HoxA5 is suppressed in
acute myeloid leukemia
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a cancer of the myeloid line of blood cells, characterized by the rapid growth of abnormal cells that build up in the bone marrow and blood and interfere with normal blood cell production. Symptoms may inclu ...
(AML), and the
DNMT
In biochemistry, the DNA methyltransferase (DNA MTase, DNMT) family of enzymes catalyze the transfer of a methyl group to DNA. DNA methylation serves a wide variety of biological functions. All the known DNA methyltransferases use S-adenosyl ...
inhibitor
decitabine
Decitabine, sold under the brand name Dacogen among others, acts as a nucleic acid synthesis inhibitor. It is a medication for the treatment of myelodysplastic syndromes, a class of conditions where certain blood cells are dysfunctional, and for ...
(5Aza) is used to treat this disease. While HoxA5 is known to be hypermethylated in AML, it has not yet been shown whether decitabine directly targets these genes for demethylation.
See also
*
Homeobox
References
External links
*
Transcription factors
{{gene-7-stub