Disease relevance of VWCE

• URG11 stimulated cell growth in culture (P < 0.01), anchorage-independent growth in soft agar (P < 0.001), and accelerated tumor formation (P < 0.01), and yielded larger tumors (P < 0.02) in SCID mice injected subcutaneously with HepG2 cells [1].
• Enhanced cell survival of Hep3B cells by the hepatitis B x antigen effector, URG11, is associated with upregulation of beta-catenin [2].

High impact information on VWCE

• URG11 stimulates the beta-catenin promoter and hepatocellular growth and survival [2].
• Transient transfection assays with fragments of the beta-catenin promoter showed that it was activated by both HBxAg and URG11 and inhibited by URG11-specific small inhibitory RNA [2].
• In this study, one monoclonal antibody (MAb) against URG11 was obtained with standard cell fusion technique and enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) screening [3].
• These data suggest that URG11 is a natural effector of HB x Ag that may promote the development of hepatocellular carcinoma [1].

Biological context of VWCE

• Activation of beta-catenin effector genes was observed in cells stably expressing HBxAg or overexpressing URG11 compared with control cells transfected with the pTOPFLASH reporter plasmid [2].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of VWCE

• Immunohistochemistry and Western blot showed that MAb 3D2 could recognize URG11 protein in both native and denatured forms [3].

References