Disease relevance of AXL

• Clinical significance of AXL kinase family in gastric cancer [1].
• Relatively abundant levels of UFO/AXL and KDR mRNAs were observed in a subset of the melanoma cell lines whereas most of the remaining protein kinases were expressed at similar levels in both normal and transformed melanocytes [2].
• Axl receptor tyrosine kinase expression in human lung cancer cell lines correlates with cellular adhesion [3].
• Furthermore, Gas6 is identified as a novel growth factor for thyroid carcinoma cells overexpressing Axl receptor tyrosine kinase [4].

• The Axl receptor tyrosine kinase was identified as a protein encoded by a transforming gene from primary human myeloid leukaemia cells by DNA-mediated transformation of NIH 3T3 cells [5].
• Gas6 is a growth factor related to protein S that was identified as the ligand for the Axl receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) family [6].
• A PvuII-polymorphism within the AXL gene on chromosome 19q13.1 [7].
• Using a DNA transfection-tumorigenicity assay we have recently identified the UFO oncogene [8].
• Different isoforms of UFO mRNA are generated by alternative splicing of exon 10 and differential usage of two imperfect polyadenylation sites resulting in the presence or absence of 1.5-kb 3' untranslated sequences [8].

Biological context of AXL

• Here, we report the cDNA cloning of the corresponding oncogene, designated UFO, in allusion to the as yet unidentified function of its protein [9].
• The UFO receptor is encoded by 20 exons that are distributed over a region of 44 kb [8].
• Proto-UFO and its oncogenic counterpart exhibit identical cDNA and promoter regions sequences [8].
• The UFO proto-oncogene maps to human chromosome 19q13.1 and is transcribed into two 5.0 kb and 3.2 kb mRNAs in human bone marrow and human tumor cell lines [9].

Anatomical context of AXL

• In order to demonstrate evidence for an autocrine regulation of growth in permanent hematopoietic cell lines, we measured the GAS6 expression in cell lines with strong positivity for the AXL/UFO receptor mRNA [10].

Associations of AXL with chemical compounds

• The predicted UFO protein exhibits characteristic features of a transmembrane receptor with associated tyrosine kinase activity [9].
• Interaction of Axl receptor tyrosine kinase with C1-TEN, a novel C1 domain-containing protein with homology to tensin [11].
 

Physical interactions of AXL

• We have previously identified C1 domain-containing phosphatase and TENsin homologue (C1-TEN) as being an intracellular binding partner for Axl receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) [12].

Other interactions of AXL

• Axl (or UFO/Ark) is the first member of a new class of RTK with two fibronectin type III domains and two immunoglobulin-like domains present at the extracellular domain [13].
• MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this report, we further investigate the protein expression of the whole axl receptor tyrosine-kinase family (axl/ufo, nyk/mer and sky/rse) by immunohistochemistry and their clinicopathological associations [1].
• A cDNA for this receptor, designated developmental tyrosine kinase (DTK), was isolated and encodes a protein with structural similarities to AXL [14].
• Using a systematic biocomputing analysis, we identified two strong related candidate genes encoding protein tyrosine kinase receptors of the AXL subfamily [15].

References