SSX2 explained

Protein SSX2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SSX2 gene.^{[1] [2]}

The product of this gene belongs to the family of highly homologous synovial sarcoma, X (SSX) breakpoint proteins. These proteins may function as transcriptional repressors. They are also capable of eliciting spontaneously humoral and cellular immune responses in cancer patients, and are potentially useful targets in cancer vaccine-based immunotherapy. SSX1, SSX2 and SSX4 genes have been involved in the t(X;18) chromosomal translocation characteristically found in all synovial sarcomas. This translocation results in the fusion of the synovial sarcoma translocation gene on chromosome 18 to one of the SSX genes on chromosome X. The encoded hybrid proteins are probably responsible for transforming activity. Two transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms have been identified for this gene.^[2]

Further reading

• Wu LQ, Lu Y, Wang XF, etal . Expression of cancer-testis antigen (CTA) in tumor tissues and peripheral blood of Chinese patients with hepatocellular carcinoma . Life Sci. . 79 . 8 . 744–8 . 2006 . 16546222 . 10.1016/j.lfs.2006.02.024 .
• Mehrle A, Rosenfelder H, Schupp I, etal . The LIFEdb database in 2006 . Nucleic Acids Res. . 34 . Database issue . D415–8 . 2006 . 16381901 . 10.1093/nar/gkj139 . 1347501 .
• Rual JF, Venkatesan K, Hao T, etal . Towards a proteome-scale map of the human protein-protein interaction network . Nature . 437 . 7062 . 1173–8 . 2005 . 16189514 . 10.1038/nature04209 . 2005Natur.437.1173R . 4427026 .
• Fernebro J, Francis P, Edén P, etal . Gene expression profiles relate to SS18/SSX fusion type in synovial sarcoma . Int. J. Cancer . 118 . 5 . 1165–72 . 2006 . 16152617 . 10.1002/ijc.21475 . free .
• Ross MT, Grafham DV, Coffey AJ, etal . The DNA sequence of the human X chromosome . Nature . 434 . 7031 . 325–37 . 2005 . 15772651 . 10.1038/nature03440 . 2665286 . 2005Natur.434..325R .
• Tvrdík D, Povýsil C, Svatosová J, Dundr P . Molecular diagnosis of synovial sarcoma: RT-PCR detection of SYT-SSX1/2 fusion transcripts in paraffin-embedded tissue . Med. Sci. Monit. . 11 . 3 . MT1–7 . 2005 . 15735574 .
• Ayyoub M, Merlo A, Hesdorffer CS, etal . Distinct but overlapping T helper epitopes in the 37-58 region of SSX-2 . Clin. Immunol. . 114 . 1 . 70–8 . 2005 . 15596411 . 10.1016/j.clim.2004.08.014 .
• Wiemann S, Arlt D, Huber W, etal . From ORFeome to biology: a functional genomics pipeline . Genome Res. . 14 . 10B . 2136–44 . 2004 . 15489336 . 10.1101/gr.2576704 . 528930 .
• Gerhard DS, Wagner L, Feingold EA, etal . The status, quality, and expansion of the NIH full-length cDNA project: the Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC) . Genome Res. . 14 . 10B . 2121–7 . 2004 . 15489334 . 10.1101/gr.2596504 . 528928 .
• Strausberg RL, Feingold EA, Grouse LH, etal . Generation and initial analysis of more than 15,000 full-length human and mouse cDNA sequences . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. . 99 . 26 . 16899–903 . 2003 . 12477932 . 10.1073/pnas.242603899 . 139241 . 2002PNAS...9916899M . free .
• Güre AO, Wei IJ, Old LJ, Chen YT . The SSX gene family: characterization of 9 complete genes . Int. J. Cancer . 101 . 5 . 448–53 . 2002 . 12216073 . 10.1002/ijc.10634 . 21174312 . free .
• Yang K, Lui WO, Xie Y, etal . Co-existence of SYT-SSX1 and SYT-SSX2 fusions in synovial sarcomas . Oncogene . 21 . 26 . 4181–90 . 2002 . 12037676 . 10.1038/sj.onc.1205569 . 33515965 .
• de Bruijn DR, dos Santos NR, Kater-Baats E, etal . The cancer-related protein SSX2 interacts with the human homologue of a Ras-like GTPase interactor, RAB3IP, and a novel nuclear protein, SSX2IP . Genes Chromosomes Cancer . 34 . 3 . 285–98 . 2002 . 12007189 . 10.1002/gcc.10073 . 11734893 .
• Brodin B, Haslam K, Yang K, etal . Cloning and characterization of spliced fusion transcript variants of synovial sarcoma: SYT/SSX4, SYT/SSX4v, and SYT/SSX2v. Possible regulatory role of the fusion gene product in wild type SYT expression . Gene . 268 . 1–2 . 173–82 . 2001 . 11368913 . 10.1016/S0378-1119(01)00412-7 .
• Simpson JC, Wellenreuther R, Poustka A, etal . Systematic subcellular localization of novel proteins identified by large-scale cDNA sequencing . EMBO Rep. . 1 . 3 . 287–92 . 2001 . 11256614 . 10.1093/embo-reports/kvd058 . 1083732 .
• Hartley JL, Temple GF, Brasch MA . DNA cloning using in vitro site-specific recombination . Genome Res. . 10 . 11 . 1788–95 . 2001 . 11076863 . 10.1101/gr.143000 . 310948 .
• dos Santos NR, Torensma R, de Vries TJ, etal . Heterogeneous expression of the SSX cancer/testis antigens in human melanoma lesions and cell lines . Cancer Res. . 60 . 6 . 1654–62 . 2000 . 10749136 .
• dos Santos NR, de Bruijn DR, Balemans M, etal . Nuclear localization of SYT, SSX and the synovial sarcoma-associated SYT-SSX fusion proteins . Hum. Mol. Genet. . 6 . 9 . 1549–58 . 1998 . 9285793 . 10.1093/hmg/6.9.1549 . free .
• Shipley JM, Clark J, Crew AJ, etal . The t(X;18)(p11.2;q11.2) translocation found in human synovial sarcomas involves two distinct loci on the X chromosome . Oncogene . 9 . 5 . 1447–53 . 1994 . 8152806 .

Notes and References

1. Tureci O, Sahin U, Schobert I, Koslowski M, Scmitt H, Schild HJ, Stenner F, Seitz G, Rammensee HG, Pfreundschuh M . The SSX-2 gene, which is involved in the t(X;18) translocation of synovial sarcomas, codes for the human tumor antigen HOM-MEL-40 . Cancer Res . 56 . 20 . 4766–72 . Nov 1996 . 8840996 .
2. Web site: Entrez Gene: SSX2 synovial sarcoma, X breakpoint 2.