Ariba Chowdhury 2006
Identification of PDRG Binding Proteins
PDRG is a novel gene named p53 and DNA damage regulated gene. The regulation is unlike the regulation that is commonly observed of genes. PDRG is negatively regulated by p53 while being positively regulated by DNA damage. The tumor suppressor p53 plays a key role in cellular responses to genotoxic stress. In the presence of DNA damage, p53 is activated by cell kinases and co-activators allowing it to take on its “Genomic Guardian” role. Upon activation, it up-regulates target genes that are functional in cell cycle arrest to allow DNA repair or in apoptosis (cell programmed death) when repair is not possible. Simultaneously, it down regulates target genes that are active in cell growth and division. Hence, DNA damage and p53 causes the same directional regulation on genes that serves as target for both. PDRG is a primary interest for research because it is not regulated according to this regulation. Also, PDRG is over expressed in tumor cells such as colorectal or breast cancer cells, emphasizing the importance of knowledge on the gene being necessary. We investigated the localization of the proteins expressed from the novel gene PDRG.