Watabe K, Ito A, Koma Y-I, Kitamura Y
Department of Internal Medicine, Osaka University Medical School, Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka, Japan.
Histol Histopathol. 2003 Oct;18(4):1321-9. doi: 10.14670/HH-18.1321.
Members of the immunoglobulin superfamily often play key roles in intercellular adhesion. IGSF4 is a novel immunoglobulin (Ig)-like intercellular adhesion molecule. Three Ig-like domains are included in the extracellular domain of IGSF4 and mediate homophilic or heterophilic interactions independently of Ca2+. The cytoplasmic domain of IGSF4 contains the binding motifs that connect to actin fibers. Since IGSF4 has been characterized by several independent research groups, this molecule is called by three names, TSLC1, SgIGSF and SynCAM. IGSF4 was first characterized as a tumor suppressor of non-small cell lung cancer and termed TSLC1, although how IGSF4 suppresses tumor growth remains unknown. Silencing of the IGSF4 gene was primarily achieved by allelic loss and promoter methylation in this type of cancers. Soon after this discovery, IGSF4 was found to have roles in adhesion of spermatogenic cells to Sertoli cells and mast cells to fibroblasts and termed SgIGSF. Other researchers revealed that IGSF4 drives synaptic formation of neural cells and termed it SynCAM.
免疫球蛋白超家族成员通常在细胞间黏附中发挥关键作用。IGSF4是一种新型的免疫球蛋白（Ig）样细胞间黏附分子。IGSF4的胞外域包含三个Ig样结构域，可独立于Ca2+介导同嗜性或异嗜性相互作用。IGSF4的胞质域含有与肌动蛋白纤维相连的结合基序。由于IGSF4已被多个独立研究小组进行了表征，因此该分子有三个名称，即TSLC1、SgIGSF和SynCAM。IGSF4最初被表征为非小细胞肺癌的肿瘤抑制因子，并被命名为TSLC1，尽管IGSF4如何抑制肿瘤生长仍不清楚。在这类癌症中，IGSF4基因的沉默主要通过等位基因缺失和启动子甲基化实现。在这一发现后不久，人们发现IGSF4在生精细胞与支持细胞以及肥大细胞与成纤维细胞的黏附中发挥作用，并将其命名为SgIGSF。其他研究人员发现IGSF4驱动神经细胞的突触形成，并将其命名为SynCAM。
