5-Azacytidine Induced Protein 2 (AZI2)

AZI2, or NAP1, contributes to the activation of NFKB-dependent gene expression by activating IKK-related kinases, such as NAK (TBK1).NAP1 also interacted with IKKE (IKBKE), but not with IKKG (IKBKG) or IKKB (IKBKB). Binding of NAP1 to NAK increased NAK kinase activity, resulting in phosphorylation of ser536 of RELA, and activated NFKB. RNA interference analysis showed that NAP1 depletion impaired TNF-induced NFKB activation and promoted TNF-induced apoptosis.The predicted 392-amino acid protein has a calculated molecular mass of 44.8 kD and is homologous to mouse Azi2. In contrast to NAK, NAP1 was also highly expressed in thymus. Immunofluorescence microscopy demonstrated cytoplasmic expression of NAP1 in fibroblasts.