Saitohin (STH)

During the examination of ESTs in the human tau locus, Conrad et al. (2002) identified a gene they designated saitohin, or STH, in honor of the late Dr. Tsuanao Saitoh and his laboratory. The STH gene encodes a predicted 128-amino acid protein.highest expression of STH was in placenta, muscle, fetal brain, and adult brain, with lower expression in heart, kidney, stomach, testis, and adrenal gland. In the central nervous system, highest expression was in temporal lobe, hypothalamus, medulla, and spinal cord, with lower expression in other brain regions. There was significant overlap with the general tissue and CNS expression of tau, although there were some differences. The results indicated that STH is not under the regulation of the tau promoter, but may share some regional regulatory elements with the tau gene.