Disease relevance of IGSF11

• Because IGSF11 gene is frequently up-regulated in intestinal-type gastric cancer, IGSF11 protein might be clinically applied as targets for early diagnosis of gastric cancer as well as for drug delivery to gastric cancer [1].
• These data suggest that IGSF11 is a good candidate of cancer-testis antigen [2].
• Identification of immunoglobulin superfamily 11 (IGSF11) as a novel target for cancer immunotherapy of gastrointestinal and hepatocellular carcinomas [2].
• We found that the constitutive expression of BT-IgSF in the myeloid leukemia cell line TF-1-fms did not alter the growth rates, but caused the formation of large cell aggregates [3].

High impact information on IGSF11

• These results indicate that BT-IgSF functions as a cell adhesion molecule, that its cytoplasmic tail is not essential for the function, and that beta(1) integrin is not involved in the function [3].
• Flow cytometric analyses with the cells demonstrated that the cell aggregation mediated by BT-IgSF was through homophilic molecular interaction, and in a Ca(2+)/Mg(2+)-independent manner [3].
• In this study, to explore its function, we generated cells overexpressing BT-IgSF proteins and analyzed their phenotypes [3].
• The cell aggregates were also observed with mutant BT-IgSF lacking its cytoplasmic tail, the amino acid sequences of which were highly conserved among the BT-IgSF subgroup proteins [3].
• BT-IgSF is a newly identified cell surface glycoprotein belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily (IgSF) [3].

Biological context of IGSF11

• IGSF11 gene consisting of 10 exons, was found to encode two isoforms due to alternative splicing [1].
• We confirmed the cell adhesion function using NIH/3T3 fibroblastic cells expressing BT-IgSF in an inducible system [3].
• Coupled with its restricted pattern of the expression, the cell adhesion-inducing function of BT-IgSF suggests a role of the cell surface molecule in the development/function of the central nervous system and spermatogenesis [3].

Anatomical context of IGSF11

• We have previously shown that the expression of the BT-IgSF gene was highly restricted to brain and testis, and its transcript was detected in both neurons and glial cells [3].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of IGSF11

• These peptides showed IGSF11-specific cytotoxic activity in an HLA-A*0201-restricted fashion, suggesting that these peptides may be applicable for cancer immunotherapy [2].

References