Disease relevance of Prss16

• Recently, the gene encoding Prss16 has been linked to insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) susceptibility independent of HLA-DR3 suggesting the Prss16 may be involved in the development of autoimmune disease [1].

High impact information on Prss16

• Prss16 is not required for T-cell development [2].
• To study the role of Prss16 in thymic development, we generated a deletion mutant of Prss16 and characterized T-lymphocyte populations and MHC class II expression on cortical thymic epithelial cells [2].
• To further investigate its potential role in autoimmunity, we characterized the mouse orthologue, Prss16 [3].
• Mapping of Prss16 places it on mouse chromosome 13 centromeric of thesatin locus [3].
• We also show that NOD and New Zealand Black mice, which have a disrupted thymic architecture and autoimmune phenotype, have lower levels of Prss16 expression compared to C57BL/6 mice [3].

Biological context of Prss16

• The genomic structure of Prss16 shows conservation with the human gene in size, number of exons and chromosomal location [3].

Anatomical context of Prss16

• Similar to the human gene, Prss16 expression is highly specific in the mouse with expression limited to the cortical thymic epithelium [3].

Associations of Prss16 with chemical compounds

• The thymus-specific serine protease Prss16 is highly expressed by the epithelial cells in the thymic cortex [1].

Other interactions of Prss16

• Among these genes, we report a new serine peptidase highly expressed in cortical epithelial cells that we have named thymus-specific serine peptidase (TSSP), and an acidic protein expressed in thymocytes and of unknown function that we have named thymus-expressed acidic protein (TEAP) [4].

References