Disease relevance of HEMGN

• Hemogen is a novel nuclear factor specifically expressed in mouse hematopoietic development and its human homologue EDAG maps to chromosome 9q22, a region containing breakpoints of hematological neoplasms [1].

High impact information on HEMGN

• Inhibition of NF-kappa B activity resulted in promoting Ba/F3 EDAG cells death [2].
• Moreover, overexpression of EDAG in pro-B Ba/F3 cells prolonged survival and increased the expression of c-Myc, Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL in the absence of interleukin-3 (IL-3) [2].
• EDAG regulates the proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic cells and resists cell apoptosis through the activation of nuclear factor-kappa B [2].
• Overexpression of EDAG in HL-60 cells significantly blocked the expression of the monocyte/macrophage differentiation marker CD11b after pentahydroxytiglia myristate acetate induction [2].
• Here, we reported that downregulation of EDAG protein in K562 cells resulted in inhibition of growth and colony formation, and enhancement of sensitivity to erythroid differentiation induced by hemin [2].

Biological context of HEMGN

• Finally, fluorescence in situ hybridization demonstrates that HEMGN is localized to chromosome 4 A5-B2 in mouse and to chromosome 9q22 in human, which is a region known to harbor a cluster of leukemia breakpoints [3].
• Moreover, the existence of a testis-specific isoform of HEMGN suggests a role in spermatogenesis [3].
• Sequence analysis reveals that HEMGN-t and the hematopoietic HEMGN mRNA (HEMGN-h) share a common coding sequence with distinct 5' and 3' untranslated regions and that these two isoforms are transcribed from the same gene locus, HEMGN, through the use of alternative promoters and polyadenylation sites [3].
• Thus, HEMGN expression exemplifies a developmental regulatory mechanism by which the diversification of gene expression is achieved through using distinct regulatory sequences in different cell types [3].
• Expression of the testis-specific HEMGN mRNA (HEMGN-t) is developmentally regulated and is concurrent with the first wave of meiosis in prepuberal mice [3].

Anatomical context of HEMGN

• Herein, we characterize two distinct splicing variants of HEMGN mRNA with restricted expression to hematopoietic cells and to round spermatids in the testis, respectively [3].
• Hemogen transcripts were specifically detected in blood islands, primitive blood cells and fetal liver during embryogenesis, and then remained in bone marrow and spleen in adult mice [1].

References