Disease relevance of Steap3

• Using a positional cloning strategy, we identified a gene, six-transmembrane epithelial antigen of the prostate 3 (Steap3), responsible for the iron deficiency anemia in the mouse mutant nm1054 [1].
• A novel gene (pHyde) was identified by an improved cDNA competition hybridization technique for Dunning rat prostate cancer cell lines [2].
• A recombinant adenovirus containing pHyde cDNA gene (AdpHyde) was generated to investigate the biological function of pHyde protein [3].

High impact information on Steap3

• Steap3 is expressed highly in hematopoietic tissues, colocalizes with the Tf cycle endosome and facilitates Tf-bound iron uptake [1].
• Overexpression of Steap3 stimulates the reduction of iron, and mice lacking Steap3 are deficient in erythroid ferrireductase activity [1].
• Previously, we identified a mammalian ferrireductase, Steap3, critical for erythroid iron homeostasis [4].
• These results together suggest that pHyde is a tumor suppressor gene that inhibits growth of prostate cancer and that this inhibition is at least in part due to the induction of apoptosis [2].
• Moreover, cancer cells that lacked expression of endogenous caspase-3 were not or barely inhibited by pHyde [3].

Biological context of Steap3

• These results taken together suggest that pHyde inhibits cancer growth by inducing apoptosis through a caspase-3 dependent pathway [3].

Other interactions of Steap3

• Apoptosis induction in prostate cancer cells by a novel gene product, pHyde, involves caspase-3 [3].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Steap3

• Based on the results presented herein, PAP-3 and STEAP-3 are naturally processed CTL epitopes possessing anti-prostate cancer reactivity in vivo and therefore may constitute vaccine candidates to be investigated in clinical trials [5].

References