Cloning a novel member of the human interferon-inducible gene family associated with control of tumorigenicity in a model of human melanoma

Abstract

Chromosome 6-mediated suppression of tumorigenicity in malignant melanoma cell lines provides a model system to identify genes associated with the reversion of the tumorigenic phenotype. Using subtractive cDNA selection, we recently identified a series of novel genes which are differentially expressed in association with chromosome 6-mediated suppression. We now report the molecular characterization of a novel gene termed AIM2 for (Absent In Melanoma), which represents a 1485 bp cDNA. An open reading frame of 1032 base pairs, corresponding to 344 amino acid residues, is predicted. The predicted protein shares a conserved sequence domain of approximately 200 amino acids with known interferon-..