Molecular Characterization of the Mouse Tem1/endosialin Gene Regulated by Cell Density in Vitro and Expressed in Normal Tissues in Vivo

Rene Opavsky, Peter Haviernik, Dana Jurkovicova, Matthew T. Garin, Neal G. Copeland, Debbra J. Gilbert, Nancy A. Jenkins, Juraj Bies, Susan Garfield, Silvia Pastorekova, Atsushi Oue, Linda Wolff

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

64 Scopus citations

Abstract

Human tumor endothelial marker 1/endosialin (TEM1/endosialin) was recently identified as a novel tumor endothelial cell surface marker potentially involved in angiogenesis, although no specific function for this novel gene has been assigned so far. It was reported to be expressed in tumor endothelium but not in normal endothelium with the exception of perhaps the corpus luteum. Here we describe the cDNA and genomic sequences for the mouse Tem1/endosialin homolog, the identification and characterization of its promoter region, and an extensive characterization of its expression pattern in murine and human tissues and murine cell lines in vitro. The single copy gene that was mapped to chromosome 19 is intronless and encodes a 92-kDa protein that has 77.5% overall homology to the human protein. The remarkable findings are 1) this gene is ubiquitously expressed in normal human and mouse somatic tissues and during development, and 2) its expression at the mRNA level is density-dependent and up-regulated in serum-starved cells. In vitro, its expression is limited to cells of embryonic, endothelial, and preadipocyte origin, suggesting that the wide distribution of its expression in vivo is due to the presence of vascular endothelial cells in all the tissues. The ubiquitous expression in vivo is in contrast to previously reported expression limited to corpus luteum and highly angiogenic tissues such as tumors and wound tissue.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)38795-38807
Number of pages13
JournalJournal of Biological Chemistry
Volume276
Issue number42
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 19 2001

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology

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