This invention relates to a human-derived bradeion protein having the following properties:
- (i) it is a transmembranous protein;
- (ii) it has a transmembranous portion, an extracellular portion, and
a cytoplasmic portion in its molecule as determined by a hydrophobicity analysis
according to Kyte-Doolittle method;
- (iii) it is expressed in the human adult normal brain and heart, the
expression level thereof in the heart being about 10% or lower of that in the brain,
while it is not expressed in other adult normal organs of spleen, lung, liver,
skeletal muscle, kidney and pancreas, and in fetal brain, lung, heart and kidney;
- (iv) it induces programmed cell death when over-expressed in a cultured
human brain-derived undifferentiated nerve cell line;
- (v) it induces termination of cell division and aging when over-expressed
in a cultured human brain-derived differentiated nerve cell;
- (vi) it is located in cytoplasm in the course of the induced cell death,
and forms an intracellular aggregate when overexpressed; and
- (vii) it is expressed in a human colorectal cancer cell line or in a
human malignant melanoma cell line, but not in leukemia, lymphoma and lung carcinoma,
to a DNA encoding said bradeion protein, to a vector comprising said DNA, to a
host cell comprising said vector, and to a method for detecting a cancer such as
colorectal cancer or malignant melanoma.
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